Album: Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya, Sotho Blue (Intuition)

This slow and stately trot through some familiar Ibrahim tunes, plus a few new to this reviewer, was recorded just before last spring's UK tour.

The highlight from those concerts, a marvellous saxophone and trombone quartet version of that glorious, hymn-like tearjerker "The Wedding", remains the high-point on Sotho Blue, although everything here is amiable enough, if a little low-energy for much of the album. One can't help missing the original group's Carlos Ward on sax and flute.