Overview
“Water From an Ancient Well” is an album recorded in 1985 by Abdullah Ibrahim, a jazz pianist and composer from Cape Town, South Africa.
Commentary
Performed by “Ekaya”, his septet group that includes four horns: Ricky Ford (tenor saxophone), Carlos Ward (alto saxophone), Charles Davis (baritone saxophone), and Dick Griffin (trombone), and flute.
Released by the Tiptoe label in 1986.
This is comfortable music that blended South African musical forms with American jazz in the Duke Ellington style, which is characterized by its slow tempo and melodic beautiful compositions.
All the tracks are Abdullah Ibrahim’s original compositions.
“Mandela” is a composition using South African keyboard style “Marabi”, and its song title comes from Nelson Mandela, a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician.
“Mannenberg (Revisited)” is a shorter version of the song “Mannenberg” (“Capetown Fringe” in its US release), which was released under his former name Dollar Brand and is known as an anti-apartheid anthem.
