Water From An Ancient Well

Very "nice" conventional 80s/90s jazz. Pretty, and not to say boring, but not terribly attention-grabbing. Interchangeable with 101 other very good, but not very unique jazz albums, so... not what I'd hope for from this list.

udmærket jazzzzz

The best jazz we’ve had yet (which isn’t saying much).

H20 so bland

A South African jazz album released in 1986. Super chill and jazzy vibes to complement my morning work. I don't go out of my way to listen to jazz, but I can easily appreciate the music.

While I enjoy jazzy rock, pure instrumental jazz simply doesn't manage to catch and hold my attention well. The music is well executed, but never rises above the level of background music. At times pleasant background music, but more often than not, it feels like the tracks just sort of drone on, going off on all sorts of tangents along the way, but never really going anywhere specific.

compilation album cringe

I don’t know much jazz but every-time I listen to any I find it very calming. I might revisit this album and artist

2.5

4.5

It's really my failing that I can not fully appreciate each of the components that artistically create a great jazz album.

Sweet it’s jazz

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.

Not for me. Background music

46 минут звука ремонта были бы меньшей пыткой, чем этот альбом

я хз, КАЛ. постный джаз бля

Boooooring

Eh, lacks a general feeling of Jazz and sounds more like a technical writing of Jazz. Lacks emotion and depth.

I seem to get a pattern of country followed by jazz! Considering he's noted as a pianist, the piano is largely anonymous. Where it is heard, it's fairly pleasing, but not enough to save the album.

I started to listen but this is pure lounge jazz and I can't cope. Just a big no thank you from me

трудно воспринять это

Easier to listen than some, but still not really for me

jazz just isnt my type of music

Nooope. Hate it.

I continue to hate jazz and this time I couldn’t even get through it. Very low energy stuff. Elevator music at best. Poo poo.

Not for me. 1/5

j'aime pas le jazz

Not my taste.

I’m never gonna get in with this style of jazz. I accept my limitations.

Nett, aber etwas verstaubt.

No interest sorry

Quit liked the first song but was so bored for the rest

Boring, listened to this while doing homework and was more focused on the homework, which is NOT common. Just sounds like the same thing for however long this went on

Washed over me with little effect like water from an ancient well.

holy shit that was boring

Not for me, I'm not a fan of that freeform jazz type thing. I find it irritating.

Nicht mein Genre!

Slow, spacious piano figures, gently circling bass lines, light percussion, and patient, unfolding melodies move this jazz album like sitting beside an ancient well that never echoes back—dignified and serene, yet so inward and motionless that the calm quickly slips into boredom for me.

Probably a bit harsh. But did nothing for me coming off the back of a Bowie high

I was excited about this but found it incredibly boring.

Wasn’t able to find this specific album/mastering on Apple Music, guess we’re using Spotify today… booo! Wireless headphones it is👎 A lot of this makes me want to listen to Sammy Davis Not what I was expecting

Meh

Water From An Ancient Well by Abdullah Ibrahim leans fully into jazz territory—perhaps more so than anything else I’ve listened to recently. I’ll be honest: I’m not qualified enough to judge whether this is good jazz or bad jazz in any technical sense. I can only judge it on how it made me feel, and unfortunately, it didn’t connect with me at all. Like most jazz I’ve tried, I found it difficult to engage with. The album felt slow, meandering, and oddly impersonal—more like background music than something I actively wanted to listen to. At times it even reminded me of a cartoon soundtrack, pleasant enough in places but never gripping or memorable. Overall, it reinforced my long-held feeling that jazz often sounds like music designed to fill space rather than demand attention—something you’d hear in a lift rather than seek out at home. Favourite track: If I absolutely had to choose, The Wedding. It was quite nice, I suppose, and more approachable than the rest. Least favourite track: The rest of the album—it all blended together for me without leaving much of an impression. In short, while I can appreciate that Water From An Ancient Well is likely respected within jazz circles, it simply isn’t for me, and I won’t be returning to it. Album artwork: Its quite a nice album cover

Forgettable

Jazz

The jazz albums included in this list appear to just be random selections.

Me out loud after literally one bar: "Oh fuck. Not jazz again. I thought it might be something interesting."

Fuck me, I try and try. But Jazz and brass instruments just sound like a bunch of noise to me and put me in a bad mood. It all feels like the emperors new clothes to me, and I can't believe anyone actually likes this shit, they just say they do to be cool. That's anyone other than the band themselves of course.

Jazz is cool but not my thing. Sorry Barry Bee Benson.

Pure ancient trash

I thought I didn’t like Jazz and i was right.

Well... I wouldn't drink it.

Oh, its Jazz :-( Thanks . . . but NO

No notes... Not because its good Because its another album that isn't interesting in any way whatsoever

Trash tier

Nobody's reading your long ass reviews. But they exist. Just like this album does.

Awful. I hated every second of this. If there is music in Hell, it’s this.

The album name and title are so intriguing, mysterious, then the opener is this weird, peppy, background vanilla jazz. I should have been primed to love this, but couldn’t wait for it to end. My least favorite style of big band-ish layered saxophones and whiney trombones. It almost made me wonder if Spotify had the wrong album linked.

This had big “playing over the speakers in the craft store” energy… >_>

FUCK I AM IN A LIFT, ONE MINUTE ON THE 163 WITH LITTLE SIMZ THE PUT THIS ON AND TRANSPORTED TO A LIFT IN M&S AÀAAHHHHH little Simz come back please Ps: Little Simz: music great, ability to rap great, what I can't deal with is how the lyrics are so direct and always about how great I am,u always suggests to me a lack of maturity. Maybe as a 53yr old British white guy I will never get it as not target audience. On with Abdullah

Didnt enjoy

For Jazz fans only - which I'm not.

I think the random generator is trying to get me to drop out. I’ve been hit with an onslaught of shitty jazz including my first unable to finish album yesterday. I was hoping for something/ anything better and then I get this. It was like getting thrown an anchor when I needed a flotation ring. The only thing I can hope for is is that maybe I am getting them all out of the way at once. Pray for me

Not my favorite jazz—kind of busy, better dancing music than easy listening imo

Summary "God-awful nonsense" It's a mixture of elevator music , old Disney music, and B movie spy music. While I'm sure it's very musically accomplished, I hate it. The wedding was the least offensive.

not one Spotify

Don’t like jazz

I just can’t do jazz. No matter how talented the musician.

I’m sorry but so boring

01) Mandela - 5,5 02) Song for Sathima - 5,0 03) Mannenberg Revisited (Cape Town Fringe) - 5,0 04) Tuang Guru - 4,5 05) Water from an Ancient Well - 5,5 06) The Wedding - 5,0 07) The Mountain - 5,0 08) Sameeda - 4,0 TOTAL: 4,94 (49/100) Current ranking: 452/479

Not my thing whatsoever

Dirge

Not good jazz, not good African music. Not good.

Strange. I loved the other South African jazz album on this list (Hugh Masekela). I found this one soporific.

Nope. By fuck, jazz is woeful in any form isn’t it?

Just too slow

I felt like I was a buffet, or a funeral home. I completely did not like this album. Only one word came to mind: boring.

Brutal

Daytime TV theme tunes. Terrible.

This is just a step above elevator muzak for me. This grating album has that weird late-80's / early-90's vibe which reminds me of bad taste and plasticky ugliness in a way I can't really define. This is the music that gets piped into a dead mall. Who would listen to this for pleasure?

Had I closed my eyes, I could have been listening to this in a bougie boutique, a slow-rising elevator or a dentist's waiting room....I think ...and that's my issue with this album; I'm fairly certain that it happened, but I can't definitely state that it happened.

Nope too stogy

Not my favorite

Maybe the most unremarkable jazz album yet. 1/5

Jazz hands!

Holiday jazz isn’t for me

Jazzy, vaguely christmasy, a little sad, not my jam

meh

Yeah just not for me

I couldn't listen to this - it's not available in my country.

Ugh jazz

Sounds really cool album title but it's just jazz so might as well be called dhdjdndjd for all it matters

Porn jazz

Yep. That's some jazz.

Melko kepeän ja luontevankin kuuloista, mutta sooloilu on minulle edelleen täysin yhdentekevää, eikä tässä juuri muuta ole.

I ALREADY RATED THIS YOU IDIOTS

👎

This is getting a one because why do i have to pay for this when I already have an Apple music subscription. I know this music aint that good to be paywalled.

Did that happen, can't remember.

Forgettable.

Tien keer niks.

No lo encontré

The worst album I’ve had on here, appalling.

Got to song 3 and had to give up. I’ve heard better elevator music

Niet door te komen, na 2 nummers gestopt met luisteren..

Det är så tråkigt med friformsjazz!!!!!

I'm just not a jazz person. Didn't even finish...

Too jazzy

Not sure how this achieved Classic status. It is entirely forgettable. I was hoping for the south African jazz equivalent of Graceland. But there is not a whisper of Africa to my ears. Cover art 2/5 nice colours

Straight, middle of the road Jazz. Not for me at all.

Murder

Cant give 0 stars so 1 it is. Didnt finish it as I cant stand Jazz and skipped though the tracks to see if there way something I could listen the whole way through, alas no.

not my jam

Ha... I brim with hope that I would one day endure an instrumental jazz album. Today is not that day

I don't like jazz

If peeing your pants is cool, consider me Abdullah Ibrahim. Don't know much about jazz so I can't really review it. Would I re-listen? Nope. 🌟