Abdullah Ibrahim - No Fear, No Die (S'en Fout La Mort) (Tiptoe/Enja, 1990)

 

Abdullah Ibrahim, piano

Horace Alexander Young III, alto & soprano sax

Jimmy Cozier, baritone sax, clarinet

Ricky Ford, tenor sax

Frank Lacy, trombone

Buster Williams, bass

Ben Riley, drums

Recorded July 18, 1990

Van Gelder Studio

Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder

French film noire frequently uses original jazz compositions and performances in soundtracks. There are few better examples of this genre of jazz than Abdullah Ibrahim's soundtrack for Claire Denis' film No Fear, No Die. The South African pianist and composer assembled one of his American jazz lineups to record the album in the Van Gelder Studios. The group embraces the compositions, and Rudy Van Gelder nails the digital recording. 

The listener is immediately attracted to the deep sound of Buster Williams' bass behind the harmonies of the horns. The halting first track, "Calypso Minor," which also ends the album in a major key ("Calypso Major"), conveys an eerie foreboding of things to come. The Caribbean setting of the film is echoed in the calypsos but is less obvious in the remaining compositions. 

Clearly, the musicians worked from Ibrahim's arrangements for the filmmaker's dark conceptions, in contrast to Miles Davis's largely improvised soundtrack to another French film - Ascenseur Pour L'Échafaud - recorded 33 years earlier.

Key soloists in the ensemble are Ricky Ford, Frank Lacy, and Jimmy Cozier. Ford is perfectly cast as an edgy soloist matching the disturbing themes of the film. Ibrahim keeps mostly out of the solo spotlight, remaining content with poignant fills as on "Meditation i and ii" and playing simple melodies, as on "Nisa." 

Overall, the magic of No Fear, No Die lies in the horn arrangements and their execution. Ibrahim's arrangements always reveal his love for the music of Duke Ellington, as interpreted through his South African roots.

To read my review of two Ibrahim albums from the 1980s, go to:

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