Abdullah Ibrahim, born Adolph Johannes Brand, formally known as Dollar Brand (from a popular brand of matches), is a South African pianist and composer who was born in Cape Town in 1934. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood, ranging from traditional African songs and religious music, to more modern jazz and other Western styles. He first received piano lessons at the age of seven, and was playing jazz professionally by 1949. In 1959 and 1960, he played with The Jazz Epistles in Sophiatown before joining the European tour of the musical King Kong. A pianist is a person who plays the piano. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... City motto: Spes Bona (Latin: Good Hope) Province Western Cape Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jazz master Louis Armstrong remains one of the most loved and best known of all jazz musicians. ... This article is about the modern musical instrument. ... Jazz Epistles Jazz Epistles was South Africas first important (albeit short lived) bebop band. ... Sophiatown was a lively, mostly-black suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. ...

In 1962 during a tour of Europe Duke Ellington heard “The Dollar Brand Trio” playing in Zürich's “Africana Club”. As a result, a recording was set up with Reprise Records; “Duke Ellington presents The Dollar Brand Trio”. The Dollar Brand Trio (with Johnny Gertze on bass and Makaya Ntshoko on drums) subsequently played at many European festivals, as well as on radio and television. Since then he has toured mainly in Europe, the United States, and in his home country, South Africa. Performances are mainly in concerts and clubs, mostly as a band, but with the occasional solo piano. He plays piano, flute, and saxophone, and composes all of his own music. Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington (April 29, 1899 - May 24, 1974) was an American jazz composer, pianist and bandleader. ...

A short attempt to return to South Africa in the mid-1970s after his conversion to Islam (and the resultant change of name from Dollar Brand to Abdullah Ibrahim) saw him return to New York in 1976, as he found the political conditions too oppressive. While in South Africa he made a series of recordings with the cream of Cape jazz players (Basil Coetzee and Robbie Jansen, for instance), which included Coetzee's masterpiece, "Manenberg", one of the greatest South African compositions ever, and which became the unofficial soundtrack to the anti-apartheid resistance. Basil Manenberg Coetzee (2 February 1944 _ 11 March 1998) was a South African musician, perhaps best known as a saxophonist. ...

Abdullah Ibrahim has written the soundtracks for a number of films, including the award winning Chocolat and, more recently, No Fear, No Die. Since the abolition of Apartheid, he now lives in South Africa and divides his time between his global concert circuit, New York, and South Africa. Chocolat is a 2000 movie based on the novel Chocolat by Joanne Harris. ...

Abdullah Ibrahim is a towering figure in South African music, an artist who brings together all its traditions with a deeply felt understanding of American jazz, from the orchestral richness of Duke Ellington's compositions for big band to the groundbreaking innovations of Ornette Coleman and the 1960s avant-garde.

Ibrahim has worked as a solo performer, typically in mesmerising unbroken concerts that echo the unstoppable impetus of the old marabi performers. He also performs regularly with trios and quartets and larger orchestral units. Since his triumphant return to South Africa in the early 1990s, he has been feted with symphony orchestra performances, one of which was in honour of Nelson Mandela's installation as President. He has also founded a school for South African musicians in Cape Town. Marabi is an indigenous music that evolved in South Africa over the last century. ... Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, (born July 18, 1918), was the first democratically elected President of South Africa, having previously been a prominent anti-apartheid activist there. ...

He is father to the New York undeground rapper Jean Grae. Jean Grae Jean Grae (real name Tsidi Ibrahim) is a female MC and writer. ...