Water From an Ancient Well

Didn't move me. Not my kind of jazz, whatever that means.

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4.

It’s jazz. I think it’s one of those jazz albums that makes you realize there’s levels to this; at the technical level, this isn’t really matching up to a John Coltrane or a Miles Davis. You can hear the breaths between notes, the slower flow of each sax run, the little hesitations in the bass & drums that make it less smooth, and overall, just a litany of little things that don’t encapsulate the slick grooves that the best jazz musicians can hide with ease. It makes you appreciate those who can. There’s also little things in the production biting at me; I think the bass & drums are quietly mixed. As such, they don’t fill out the bottom of the soundscape enough, leaving an emptiness in the ears that you can feel. It leads to higher instruments not being contrasted well, and there’s something just a little off about that.

This album’s biggest hit is simply in the lack of a more potent atmosphere to each track; the best jazz music gets the brain thinking of the scenarios it can fit in, and early on in this album, it just doesn’t paint the strongest pictures. It gets better by “Mannenberg Revisited” onward, but stumbling out of the gate with some tracks that are just Okay kinda muddies the perception of the album. There’s also really only 3 or 4 of the final 6 tracks that nail it. “Water from an Ancient Well” feels like one that should’ve nailed it, but the length of that track just kinda drags out too long. “The Wedding” & “The Mountain” might be the most succinct ones here, and the latter is probably my favorite on the album.

All of that said, I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4. It’s still nice jazz, and when it does roll, it rolls well. I just think it could be a little better; tighter runs, tighter execution, better mixing, and ultimately, just a more imaginative atmosphere (maybe with titles that help more too). I don’t know if it had to be on the list, but I’m not too judgmental about it.

Jamais écouté avant.

Un album de jazz dont je ne distingue pas bien, peut-être à cause de mon inculture dans le genre, la spécificité. Ce serait mentir de dire que l'écoute est désagréable, les musiciens sont incontestablement talentueux et ce genre de jazz tout en douceur a quelque chose d'intemporel (difficile à croire, d'ailleurs, que l'album date de 1986, tant il sonne comme s'il avait trente ans de plus...), mais n'a rien qui accroche l'attention, en tout cas mon attention, et a une fâcheuse tendance à se fondre dans le décor malgré tous mes efforts pour maintenir une écoute active. Il a même quelque chose de frustrant, tant je m'attendais à y entendre quelque chose de l'Afrique du Sud ou de la douleur de l'exil qui me semble complètement absent... L'autre mauvaise surprise, c'est à quel point le piano semble en retrait dans les arrangements, alors que c'est justement l'instrument d'Abdullah Ibrahim. Après la claque que j'avais prise avec Keith Jarrett, j'en attendais peut-être trop, et j'ai été franchement déçu...

Top : Tuang Guru
Flop : The Wedding

dobar! očekivao sam moderniji zvuk, ovo mi se skroz dopalo i htio bih još slušat

Well this was a pleasant soundtrack to pottering around on a Saturday afternoon.

took an edible for the first time and came home to listen to this. good!

It's just jazz.

Yeah, that was nice. This one really tickles my postcentral gyrus.

I’m no jazz aficionado. I’m sure my son, who loves jazz, will be upset that I will rate this higher than the more experimental jazz albums. This was easy to listen to, although nothing surgically jumped out at me. I heard it and it’s pretty much gone from my memory.

It's jazz. It's alright.

This whole album seemed like relatively paint by numbers jazz to me. I liked the song The Mountain. I did not notice that the linked version on Spotify is missing the title track so I listened to that on YouTube and I am so glad I did. What a fantastic song. The way the piano dances, the flute solo, the trombone parts with the shifting dynamics are just fantastic.

Perfect soundtrack for my nature walk today.

I've listened jazz albums that were worse. I'd consider this a compliment.

Did not expect an instrumental jazz piano album on here, so this was a surprise. While I do love jazz, piano, and jazz piano, I didn’t feel especially connected to these selection of songs.

Fairly run of the mill jazz; there are much better jazz albums missing from this list.

Honestly was not expecting jazz when I put this one on. Its got a very late night talk show/eating at sundown on the river in a European city vibe (think Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night).

That said, not hugely into this type of jazz. Definitely a vibe that I can get into in certain scenarios, but not something I'd listen to outside that.

All the respect in the world for the anti-apartheid activism.

The music is pleasant and flirts with being bland. But there is something interesting going on here and it's worth a listen.

Thoroughly pleasant. It’s such a smooth, easy-listening time. It’s not ever going to massively grab my attention, but it doesn’t need to. It’s just a nice listen, and that's ok.

3.5 rounded up.

It's nice. 3/5.

This wasn’t available on my streaming service. I like some of his other stuff that I’ve heard.