Saturday, July 28, 2018

IBIS – Ibis (Grammofonverket, 1974) / Sabbas Abbas mandlar (Dragon, 1980)

Instrumental
International relevance: ***/**

Ibis evolved out of the excellent Vildkaktus but has very little in common with pianist Gösta Nilsson's and guitarist Olle Nilsson's former band. The music on their debut is jazz fusion, albeit with a much dirtier edge than the genre usually allows. Sometimes during the noisier parts they remind me a wee bit of French band Magma but possibly only because the tenstion they create from time to time.But ”Ibis” do indeed has quite a few more progressive moves than their far more academic Swedish fusion genre fellows. While I prefer the splendour of Vildkaktus, ”Ibis” is an interesting piece worthy of several plays.

Their second album with an untranslatable pun on Samla Mammas Manna for title didn't appear until six years later, and features a vastly different line-up with only Gösta Nilsson left from ”Ibis”. The personnel change obviously prompted a change in style, and ”Sabba Abbas mandlar” is a straight post bop jazz record with only a few contemporary fusion tinges on ”Summer Eyes” penned by new member and jazz legend Bengt Ernryd. An OK album but keep in mind it collects few progg points.

Ibis full album

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