Water From An Ancient Well

Though the water may be pleasantly cool, the well doesn't seem particularly deep. Somehow carries a whiff of incidental mood music from the BBC films department in the 1980s.

Nothing offensive here, decent jazz with some African flair. Pretty good one to chill out to.

Hit and miss cool jazz, but I love the title track. 3.5 stars

Thought this was a pretty album. Kind of surprised this is from the mid-80s. 3.5 stars.

Anti-apartheid protest jazz. Some toe-tapping cuts but a lot of snoozy ones as well. Opener Mandela has a sort of nice jolly Swingin’ Safari/Little Brown Jug/My Ding-a-ling feel to it. Could have done a bit better with the album sleeve. If this is an essential listen then maybe water is not wet.

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

good jazz - nothing more to say

Decent album. Was hard to find but eventually got it on Spotify. I enjoyed the full sound on this record. Wasn’t anything that blew me away though.

OK. Nice jazz album but nothing special 3/5

I didn’t like the first track and was concerned I was in for a bad time. But the rest of the album was great! From looking at the cover I was expecting an ambient album, but I’ll take (good) jazz any day of the week. Will have to delve into his back catalog.

Not really into jazz but this was pretty cool.

Smooth jazz. Can imagine this on the soundtrack to a successful comedy-drama in the 80s

I’m sure this has some historical factors I don’t know to make it notable, but otherwise, it does just sound like a pretty straight-down-the-line cool jazz album, made way late to the original party and not really venturing anywhere but just staying mellow for a full 46 minutes. It’s well crafted, the basslines in particular often sound great and give you a little something to groove with, but it doesn’t really stand out to my ear and probably won’t to my memory.

Its quite good, but also not mind blowing in any way. I don't know that I have to listen to absolutely fine before I go, but I wasn't mad. It gets points for craftsmanship, but docked some for originality. I have heard music like that

4/10

This is what I picture when I think of jazz. It's so great to hear jazz that leaves room for your imagination to fill in some of the gaps.

В целом неплохо, но не шедевр

3.6

Belle écoute en jazz

boring

Хороший африканский джаз, помог побороть апартеид, это здорово. Лучшая песня: Song For Sathima

I get that I'm a Philistine when it comes to modern jazz, but this doesn't even seem that good to me. The more I listen, the less I like this. After listening to all of it, I like it the least I am able. How much blacker could my heart be towards this album? In the immortal words of Nigel Tufnel, "None more black."

Ein zwei Stücke swingen schön, der Rest ist mir zu anstrengend

Good album very chill

Konstant følelse av å ville bytte sang. Første hørtes så kjent ut. To første, behagelig men slitsomt. Jazz absolutt Går litt på veggen av dette Sameeda, likte ikke innslagene og mye falske toner ute å går. Alt i alt, hvis du synes d forrige var iMovie Latina så er dette hvertfall iMovie jazz 1

Sykt fint! Elske når jazzalbum e ydmyke nok te å holda seg under 1 time. Komme te å hørra på dette igjen! Beste sang: vett ikkje

African Jazz. I love this guy and his sound and his compositions and his arrangements. I'd never heard this record though. It's a particularly beautiful bit of his work. I love how concise and focused it is. Everyones playing seems to fit that vibe really well. Awesome stuff.

Sublime, truly enjoyable.

Decent enough jazz. 3.5 bumped up to 4.

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.

Really solid album, thoroughly enjoyed it. Not sure if I would consider it, influential or lasting the test of time, but good jazz, good jazz.

cant get myself to listen to it

mostly nice for the background. kind of bordered on musak at times. to the point i swore i heard this in a therapy waiting room before. pleasant, nonetheless.

This is #day782 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and... here's to some excellent South African jazz I've never heard before on this Tuesday evening. It was fun to learn about the term Cape jazz, since improvisational jazz is my jam. It was sad to learn that the guy passed away this year, back in June, though. Otherwise, this is a 4 out of 5. Looking forward to #day783.

Mitä vittua

I hate jazz. This definitely could have been worse but I did not enjoy it. Mid.

Excellent jazz

Couldn’t listen, don’t care.

I usually lock in my reviews for genres that I'm unqualified to rate at a 3, but this really set the PERFECT mood for my dog walk.

Perfectly fine jazz.

That was perfectly pleasant.

this was great! Had not heard of him, but will listen to more. Also: looking him up, I see Jean Grae is his daughter.

3/5 - All that jazz

Pretty sure this is good if you like that kinda thing, but it's all a bit too smugly jazzy for me.

Very good album nice flow Surprised me as I am very picky for this type of music. Only real critique is that the songs are too long but other than that is smooth as the best out there

3 rats

Album not available in Apple Music, was able to track down most of the tracks. Good stuff, might revisit one or two of the songs again.

WATER FROM AN ANCIENT WELL - Abdullah Ibrahim (1986) - 8/1001 Classic, smooth jazz. Nothing to rag on, nothing to write home about, simple and clean. The epitome of a regular jazz album.

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

Good

I love this dude

So this is the first album on here that I have been completely unable to find in any listenable format (Youtube in 2026 with six thousand ads every 3 seconds does not count as "listenable" - didn't even try), so I listened to "The Enja Heritage Collection: Yarona" by this guy instead. More subtle, smooth jazz that is pleasant enough, but completely wasted on me since I cannot tell any artist, song or album in this genre from any other ... which is maybe actually a good thing in this case as I'm virtually certain that I would have enjoyed the album I was supposed to listen to as much as the album I actually did.

Not my kind of jazz

Pretty good

Eh, elevator music jazz

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

I enjoyed it, not sure why this easy-on-the-ears jazz album is must listen?

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

Really warm jazz sound. Like the melodies and the space between the instruments.

Not at all what I expected. Really delightful jazz album.

Ya like jazz? I am usually a fan of more "exciting" jazz ie jazz fusion, but this seemed like appropriate music for olive garden. It was fine but id rather listen to something a little more exciting like the crusaders. However there were some standouts on this that made me pause and focus more on listening, mainly Song for Sathima however in that song there seems to be some audio quality issues I would expect from a much older album.

Smooth, calm, balanced, nice. Love that one

Elevator music

Nice jazz background music.

By the time the 80s had rolled around, Jazz was far out of its' prime of popularity and yet that never stopped a consistent underground of artist from continuing to put out some very great work worthy of much greater attention and appraisal. One of those such projects comes from Abdullah Ibrahim with his 1986 album Water from an Ancient Well. This album is such a pleasant time that it is hard to have anything bad to say about it. It is simple, to the point, and extremely enjoyable and what more could you ask for? Hearing a Cool Jazz album not made during the peak of the genre in the 50s and 60s is nothing short of amazing and Abdullah Ibrahim does a wonderful job in making the case for this project's existence as it is such a nice mood setter. I am by no means calling this album a classic, but when you listen to it you will understand that this is just a really nice and solid Jazz project with no notes needed. Sure Abdullah could have done more with the compositions, but can we not appreciation something that offers no bullshit and goes straight to the point?

I really liked about half of it quite a bit "Mandela", "Manenburg Revisited", "Tuang Guru" and "Water From an Ancient Well". "Sameeda" just ain't my kinda jazz, but I get it. The other three were ultra snoozeville If it had ended at the title track, I could have gone a solid 4 stars, but as is (7.2) ★★★½

Found it on YouTube. Left it there..... 2/5.

Not my kind of jazz. It was chill but a bit basic

A jazz album. Nothing particularly note worthy. Not offensive.

It's just jazz.

Real nice. Feel good music. African feel with western jazz.

It starts strong and beguiling like the best jazz, but weakens considerably for me as the rest of the runtime veers into the dreaded land of smooth jazz and Muzak. I want to love the revered jazz pianist of South Africa, but I’m afraid my bebop-loving self can’t chill to this degree. It would work well as pleasing background for having friends over.

Had never heard of this album but it was extremely my shit. Lush, melodic, cool jazz. Absolutely entranced by it. I listened to it basically on repeat yesterday.

Good jazz

It's just jazz.

South African jazz. Classy. I liked Tuang Guru best

It’s not bad but I feel like the list maker said “ok we need a South African album so people can’t accuse me of being insanely English biased, I’m going down to the record store buying whatever they have” It’s pleasant enough jazz, I thought Mandela was fun and probably my favorite track on the record. I don’t think there’s a single bad moment here, and I think some of the improv is pretty damn nice. I don’t I can bring myself to dislike instrumental jazz like ever Compared to all the other jazz albums we’ve had I think this is probably the weakest. It does feel a bit unprofessional and unpolished at times. I was kinda hoping it’d have stronger Afro infusions, as that was something I liked about the last South African jazz album we had, this just feels really really generic to me I really don’t know if this is an essential album even though I did enjoy my time with it, I just feel like it could absolutely have more interesting stuff going on to differentiate itself from the swaths of music you’d get in some random hotel lobby. Still though, I’d absolutely rather listen to this than something ear grating, I’m just kinda picky

Musically, it's unique, focusing more of repeated rhythms rather than motion. It's jazz, but its influenced by a different style and you can hear it immediately. All in all, very easy listening.

My theory continues to be proven true. Although this album isn’t composed by, or doesn’t involve anyone I’m familiar with. This doesn’t really seem to be well known or popular at all. Which, if true, makes me sad, because this is a seriously under appreciated piece of jazz music. The most interesting part of this album to me is how it manages to keep each song unique and slightly different, but also have everything still fit under the same jazz umbrella. Mandela is very fun and upbeat. Song for Sathima slows things down and is much more calm and serene. Manenberg Revisited gives Charlie Brown Thanksgiving vibes. Tuang Guru feels like Indiana Jones detective crime thriller music. Think Grim Fandango soundtrack. The title track, which is not on Spotify for some reason, and The Wedding get even calmer than Song for Sathima, but I don’t find them to be as interesting. The Mountain fits its title really well. It sounds like backpacking up a rural mountain in Thailand or something. Reminds me of a Studio Ghibli movie. And Sameeda feels like the music from an episode of Tom and Jerry. This is just as traditional and simple of a jazz album as Kind of Blue, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have the complexity. As I’ve already said, Kind of Blue is one of the most flawlessly crafted jazz records ever, simply because of who was apart of it. But the complexity and skill of those working on this record, while not 100% comparable, is still excellent. This is also a much more modern jazz record compared to the majority of the very popular ones from the golden age of the genre, which gives it a more refined sound.

One of those albums that would only discover from this list. Apparently this might be jazz music influenced by apartheid era South Africa. Will be interesting to hear. This is slightly different sounding jazz right off the bat than I’m used to. It’s pretty good once you get into it. To me, this is just fine jazz. Nothing is jumping out at me. Feels a little simple at times. It’s missing a distinct quality to some it. Maybe it’s the heavy use of flute in some of the songs or a lack of a notable trumpet or stronger improvisation moments. Liked the sound on Tuang Guru. Then didn’t really like The Wedding, which is almost smooth jazzy vibes. I’ll probably go 2 or 3. Nothing special, nothing bad. Can’t say I would know much about the background of this from just a listen. Interesting enough though, you hear a lot of variety in the sound. I’m a 2.

Really beautiful, emotive, laidback African jazz that made me feel incredibly happy.

This was a pretty standard jazz album. Decent, but there doesn't seem to be anything of significance here. Maybe because it is South African?

I’m not all that into jazz and I’m trying but this one just wasn’t hitting for me and won’t get another spin

It's just jazz, but not the interesting kind. Pretty boring in my opinion. 3/10

Cool jazz album

2.5

A warm, sturdy jazz record. Glad to get a good one that I hadn’t ever heard of. Startling musicianship and joyful arrangements. The flute solo on the title track was particularly impressive.

An appropriate album to listen to on the way home from La La Land.

Found it really soothing

Fine jazz album - idk if I needed to hear this before I die but whatever

There was some really fun stuff in here.

This music puts me in a trance - a happy, calm, lackadaisical trance. A welcome change from weeks and weeks of what seems like 70%+ rock.

Dig. Sometimes ordinary, sometimes great

Very smooth jazz, clearly a bunch of very talented people, but too background for me to have any particular impression.

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

Titular track is the highpoint for me here. Despite the composer being a pianist, lots to love on this album if you're a horn player. 3.5/5

Heard before?:❌️ Will listen again?:✔️

Pleasant jazz music. While it’s not the most innovative the story behind it as protest music during South Africa’s apartheid makes it an interesting historical artefact

Amazing jazz album, so many differents instruments from flutes to trumpets to pianos etc... Beautifull colleciton of songs. 1. Water From An Ancient Well 2. Mandela 3. The Wedding

1 - TERRIBLE