Tall, gaunt and gray, Abdullah Ibrahim radiated a priestly vibe. At 84, the South African piano master has refined his cult to the point where every aspect resonates on the same frequency, no matter how many musicians are contributing. And even those of us whose main memories of Ibrahim drift back to his 1960s recordings as Dollar Brand were magnetized by this mature septet expression. Whatever we expected, he exceeded.
Ibrahim outliined his aesthetic with an extended opening solo improvisation that established beauty as a platonic form beyond categories of classical, jazz or folk. No pianist employs dissonance more subtly than Ibrahim -- he used his pedals and his remarkably consistent touch to unify clashing notes and flow them into an ever-evolving harmonic stream. A casual listener might have heard prettiness; those with advanced degrees could follow his thinking into limitless depths.
And limitless breadths. When the other six members of Ibrahim's Ekaya ensemble joined him, they extended his fingers into multiple dimensions. Ibrahim's musical integrity showed up strongest in their chording: Multiwindman Cleave Guyton Jr., tenor saxist Lance Bryant, trombonist Andrae Murchison and baritone saxist Marshall McDonald offered enough range to exploit the rich textures of Ibrahim's Ellington-influenced numbers (Duke was an early booster), enough heft to drive the rootsier material, and enough agility to negotiate the rhythmic challenge of Thelonious Monk's "Skippy."
And in numerous solos, each hornman astonished in turn -- McDonald with his soulfulness, Murchison with his precision sliding, Bryant with his dead-on bop clip and Guyton with his variety, from alto to flute to screamin' blues on the improbable piccolo. The bass and drum spotlights by Anoah Jackson and Will Terrill rose to the same level.
The combination added up to a kind of austere yet warm ingenuity you could never find elsewhere. As if being told, "It's all one," we weren't informed of any song titles. Although some of these experts sojourn with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, we could tell by their smiles that tonight was no tourist history seminar; this was living grace from the heart and spirit.
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PHOTO (FIVE OUT OF SEVEN) BY FUZZY BURNS.