Search - Buddy Tate :: Buddy Tate Meets Abdullah Ibrahim: The Legendary 1977 Encounter

The story of an incredible meeting

JEAN-MARIE JUIF | BESANCON France | 12/25/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Who would have thought that Buddy Tate and Abdullah Ibrahim (aka Dollar Brand) would record together someday ? Buddy Tate (1913-2001),a tenor sax master from the swing era, was a member of Count Basie's orchestra at the end of the thirties,and remained active in music after he turned 80 years old. Pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (born October 9,1934 in South Africa),was discovered by Duke Ellington.Duke even produced his first recording session, on the Reprise label (at that time,Abdullah was known as Dollar Brand),and also produced a record of Dollar's wife,singer Sathima Bea Benjamin.Then,Abdullah recorded several masterpieces,mostly in solo piano ("anthem for the new nations" on Denon,"ode to Duke Ellington" and "memories" on West Wind,"african piano" on ECM,"anatomy of a south african village" on Black Lion,and many others.
In 1977,producer Hank O'Neal had the crazy idea of inviting Dollar and Buddy to record together.This was the idea: Abdullah would teach Buddy some of his tunes ("Goduka Mfundi" and "Heyt Mazurki"),Buddy would teach Abdullah some of his ("doggin' around" and "just you,just me"), and a pair of standards would complete the session ("poor butterfly" and Duke's "in a sentimental mood").Bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Roy Brooks were hired for the session;they both recorded with Abdullah for Enja a few months before.Buddy Tate's playing is great,he really feels at home, and Abdullah's solos on standards is interesting to discover.After the first six tracks were taped,Buddy had to leave because he was playing at the Crawdaddy Club,NYC,so the trio recorded two more tracks which didn't appear on the original LP."shrimp boats", a Randy Weston original, sounds very african."Django", of course, is John Lewis' masterpiece, a tune dedicated to french gipsy guitar player, Django Reinhardt.After a haunting ad-lib introduction,with only drums,bass and voice (Abdullah's ?),the trio goes into a Coltrane-like exploration of the theme,without playing it.Abdullah's playing is very reminiscent of McCoy Tyner's,not based on the melody of the tune but only on the chords.THis is a very interesting meeting of two masters who maybe would never had the opportunity of playing together.And another marvel from Chiaroscuro,a label who commited some great records in the 70's."

A Felicitous pairing

Bill Wood | 05/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This unlikely 1977 pairing turned out to be a bonanza for both men. Tate had not yet begun to lose his wind and Ibrahim was young and still open to the jazz influences he was searching for in America. Both men somehow conspired to bring out the best in the other. Ibrahim was so respectful of Tate that he entrusted his own opening tune, "Goduka Mfundi", to the captaincy of Tate and the rhythm section and sat out on piano. Tate never sounded better. Ibrahim's South African tonic was just the pick-me-up Tate needed as he entered the senior years of his career. And Ibrahim displays what a completely original keyboard voice he is on Duke's "In a Sentimental Mood" and the monumental, "Django". Thought you'd heard everything that could be done with "Django"? You haven't heard this. But perhaps the greatest revelation of this CD is bassist, Cecil McBee, who is liberally featured throughout and proves himself an absolute monster of the upright.If Hank O'Neal ever produced a better record I haven't heard it yet. This is jazz at its shining best."