Abdullah Ibrahim

★★★★ Solotude GEARBOX. CD/DL/LP

Octogenarian South African pianist at the top of his game.

While there was no crowd to appreciate Abdullah Ibrahim’s most recent birthday show at Germany’s Hirzinger Hall, it matters not; the ex-Jazz Epistles piano maestro, warmly dubbed “South Africa’s Mozart” by Nelson Mandela, used its acoustics to his advantage. His talent for playing older songs as if they had just sprung unbidden adds heartbroken heft to the Duke Ellington-influenced Sotho Blue and evergreen The Wedding, the latter sounding fresher than when it first surfaced on 1986’s Water From An Ancient Well. Elsewhere, stately, contemplative new efforts In-Tempo and Once Upon A Midnight make light of his technical gifts with careful phrasing, sparing use of low pedals and feather-light dissonant touches. Dotted with unfussy miniatures (several below the minute mark), Ibrahim’s gift for ghosting between guises and seamless transitions remains undimmed.