Abdullah Ibrahim, the South African jazz pianist deemed his country's equivalent to Mozart by Nelson Mandela, died Monday in his adopted home of Germany after a short illness. He was 91 years old.
"Abdullah passed away peacefully with South Africa and its people in his heart," his partner, Marina Umari, said in a statement. "His love for his country never wavered, no matter where in the world he found himself."
In an extraordinarily accomplished career that spanned eight decades, Ibrahim helped bring bebop stylings to South Africa, and he bonded with Duke Ellington, who produced one of his early, influential recordings. In his later years, he became an idol and an inspiration to new generations of jazz pianists.
Abdullah Ibrahim was born Adolph Johannes Brand in 1934. His mother was a pianist at their church, and he began taking piano lessons at the age of 7. By the time he was 15, he was playing professionally — billed as Dollar Brand — and in the late '50s formed a group, the Jazz Epistles, that featured trumpeter Hugh Masekela. In January 1960, the group recorded Jazz Epistle Verse One, the first jazz album by an all-Black South African jazz ensemble.
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