“We have a conversation where there is another way to lay the meter,” says Ibrahim, of the trio recorded on new live album “3.” “Perhaps instead of a drumbeat we should have individual and collective breathing and heartbeat. “This leaves people, that is, us musicians and also the listeners, free to deal with the music individually.”

Ibrahim’s career dates back to the 1950s, when he was known as Dollar Brand and was a member of the pioneering South African group Jazz Epistles, which included Hugh Masekela. After leaving South Africa and apartheid to live and perform in exile, Ibrahim Duke Ellington He became known for a meditative sound that combined Thelonious Monk-influenced jazz music with African rhythms and church music.

Ibrahim, who turned 90 last month, said in his speech from his home in Germany that he was inspired by the music of the Chinese and Indian communities in South Africa, as well as the musicians who played the piano solo at home parties. And then there was a record his grandmother had. The label was too faded to be read and the record player was broken, so Ibrahim had to move the 78 with his finger. “I kept playing it over and over again, and the neighbors were very upset,” he recalls. “But it moved me very deeply. And years later I discovered that it was Debussy’s ‘The Beginning of a Faun’s Afternoon.’

Abraham played at the 1965 Newport Jazz Festival and became a regular at Boston-area clubs such as Sandy’s, Tinker’s, and Jazz Workshop; Here he fondly remembers meeting BB King, who was playing next door at Paul’s Mall. After the end of apartheid, Nelson Mandela, who called Ibrahim “South Africa’s Mozart”, invited the pianist to return. Ibrahim has since mentored several generations of South African jazz musicians and recently restarted the M7 Communities Project, a program that mentors young musicians in life skills, including music and martial arts. It is stated that Ibrahim has a black belt.

Today he is considered one of the fathers of the vibrant South African jazz scene. “There are so many bright young musicians in South Africa,” he says. “As Charlie Parker said: There will always be a young person who will ‘come in and embrace this style and actually do something with it.’”

Many South African jazz talents now call Boston home, including pianist Witness Matlou and drummer Lumanyano Mzi, as well as South African-born masters Stanley Sagov and John Lockwood.

“I can’t think of a South African musician who wasn’t influenced by Abdullah Ibrahim,” says Matlou, a talented and thoughtful pianist and composer who recently played with the Boston Jazz Composers Guild Orchestra. “His music was part of what highlighted freedom in South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy. “One of his tracks, ‘Mannenberg,’ was the soundtrack to political transition.”

Matlou credits Ibrahim for expanding “the colors and the harmonic progressions and what we saw was possible in piano playing that combined the sound and rhythm of the South African town with jazz improvisation.”

As Ibrahim embarks on a US tour, he is aware that his audience is going through a controversial selection process. “I hope that when people come and listen to the music, we can heal for a moment,” he says.

“When I was in high school, my dream was to become a medical doctor, but the system did not allow me,” says Ibrahim. “So I’ve always been interested in the idea of ​​being a healer.

“Musicians are considered entertainers, but in the African tradition if you show any sign of musical talent you will be admitted to medical school,” explains Ibrahim. “This is how we defeated apartheid. Mandela and our anonymous teachers would sit with us and explain that the most important aspect of our lives is our recovery.”

ABDULLAH İBRAHİM

at Berklee Performance Center, Saturday, 20:00, Famousseries.org

Noah Schaffer can be reached at [email protected].