Like a master storyteller with a marvelously subtle and multi-layered story to tell, Abdullah Ibrahim delivers his message on the third outing by his African Trio, CAPE TOWN REVISITED. The layers are slowly peeled away for the listener through repeated encounters to reveal, once again, the soulful sound of Cape Town.

The initial impression sets this record in line with its disciplined recent predecessors. Recorded in 1997 in performance at Spier Estate in Cape Town, a typical day's creative moment is captured. All the verities of Ibrahim's working trio, (with Marcus McLaurine on bass and George Gray on drums) are accurately etched. The repertoire is mostly familiar and the songs are woven into a colorful fabric of praise-song, the contemplative, and swinging township tradition.

CAPE TOWN REVISITED doesn't break new ground, yet it tends to the garden lovingly. If there is nothing as startling here as on the entrancing wash of orchestra and trio offered on 1998's AFRICAN SUITE, or as ebullient as what a larger ensemble burst forth with on TOWN SHIP ONE MORE TIME, none-the-less, as the layers get peeled away, the listener soon is situated in The African Trio's beguiling garden of delights.

This is especially apparent if the listener isn't shy with the volume control and also allows the music here to unveil itself through repeat listening. Beneath the by now familiar surface many joyous and gleaming facets are revealed.

"Damara Blue" opens the set easily. Bassist McLaurine and drummer Gray start off in the background on the mellow opener, a measured minor key pastoral song. Then Ibrahim quickens the pace and his rhythm mates are shuffle briskly with him as the strains of "Someday Soon Sweet Samba" announce we're to dance! McLaurine, who has a guitarist's approach during his features, provides a nimble solo and then Ibrahim takes it out to a short dramatic flourish.

Gray kicks another kind of shuffle in to announce the first movement of a new suite "Cape Town to Congo Square". The pianist forcefully pushes and pulls at the beat in a delightful conversational bantering with McLaurine in this movement, titled "African Street Parade". Strongly suggested is just such a procession as Ibrahim is both soloist and the answering section. McLaurine gets a turn in front and the parade seemingly revs up another notch on Ibrahim's closing exhortation.

Then a quick shift and the piano rumbles insistently to introduce the second movement, "District Six Carnival" to the tick of Gray's drum stick. The brief march leads into one of Ibrahim's prettiest themes, dedicated to his wife Sathima Bea Benjamin "Song for Sathima". As always, a clear portrait of her calm strength is brought forth, and, as always, it is a heart-warming love song that seems to knowingly remark on times spent together.

The third and concluding movement, "Too-Kah" (noted in the liners as a South African phrase meaning 'way back') rings with familiar thematic material and sounds the call of the full circle: played as the closer to the suite, it evokes beginnings and arrivals.

"Cape Town to Congo Square" is, of course, a highlight. Yet, at its conclusion the listener has just begun! There's much more to be unveiled.

Guest Feya Faku on trumpet provides notice of the distinction laying-in-wait in the deeper layers with his brief blues sermon on "Tintinyana". Later, on "Royal Blue" Faku's flight is effervescent, and on "Soweto" wholly unfettered. Faku is a tremendous player: his is an African trumpet sound, elastic and cornet-like. He squeezes out half-valve effects and effortslessly creates an acrobatic mute-like sound.

The stories transform into one another through the trio's thoughtful transitions. "Tintinyana"'s moves from the blues into meditation and then Gray shifts into an Arabic sounding shuffle, (perhaps there is, really, but one desert!) for "Tuang Guru", a praise-song for the Malay Imam. Gray is soon playing with his hands on his kit, then accelerates to give Ibrahim a launch pad for a driving and knotty solo. The rhythm reasserts itself and found in its folds is "The Eleventh Hour", measured out as a wise injunction. Through a melancholy slice, the trio, now joined by Faku begins to essay the hopeful strains of "Water...". Faku starts here mournful but soon breaks out with a singing sermon, pushed by Ibrahim's churchy playing. McLaurine is next up with a thoughtful solo in the treble range of his bass. Ibrahim reiterates the theme and is instantly on the train now, for Ibrahim's dedication to his son Tsakwe.

After the fleet dedication, Faku bursts out with a brief solo on "Royal Blue" over Gray and McLaurine's driving accelerando. McLaurine plays his best solo of the date, contrasting his guitaristic bent with more conventional bass playing.

On "Soweto" both Faku and Ibrahim get bright turns. The oft recorded composition is cast here innocently in both players' solos before Ibrahim turns toward a brief anthemic close marked by joyous solidarity.

The favored ritualism of "The Mountain' and "The Wedding" are signatures. Yet, there's more, for "Barakaat (The Blessing)" closes the performance with it's notes of grace and gratitude.

 

CAPE TOWN REVISITED is a splendid record. There's nothing dramatically different about it, yet, it's filled with blissful songs from the beautiful city by the sea. There are very few artists who so artistically encapsulate the spirit of their own origin and homeland as Ibrahim does on behalf of Cape Town and South Africa. Ibrahim and his trio and guest Faku are captured here working out this deep idea of 'origination' and the listener, especially through repeated encounters, will no doubt be returned to the special place, the place home for us all.