There have been times in recent Ekaya concerts where it's seemed that Abdullah Ibrahim has taken a bit of a back seat, letting the band get on with things, while he takes a breather. But if we needed reminding what a spellbinding pianist he is, this brand new album recorded not long before he came to the UK in the spring of 2019 does the job brilliantly. It is a 66-minute meditation at the keys with one piece flowing into another and sometimes echoes of a previous one (notably ‘Blue Bolero’) recurring later in the sequence. From time to time he hums or almost sings along, and at others he drops the volume to a hushed stillness. There's pent-up passion too, which suddenly overflows in ‘Whoza Mtwana’. There are moments of dramatic contrast, such as when the lyrical melody of that same ‘Blue Bolero’ first appears about seven minutes in. ‘Capetown District Six’ has begun and trundled on for a while before its irregular left-hand pattern and haunting tune appear. And his best-known piece here, ‘Blues for a Hip King’, has run six of its eight minutes before the full chord sequence is played out for us, unadorned. In that case the solo comes before the piece it is based on. The title track, ‘Dream Time’, is like one of the little miniatures on his Ekaya album, The Balance, (reviewed in August), and indeed his earlier song ‘The Balance’, the title track of that album, reappears in this reverie. There's an Ellingtonian chord sequence in ‘Song for Lawrence Brown’ hinting at ‘Don't Get Around Much Any More’ that suddenly morphs back into ‘Blue Bolero’. The only way to listen to this album is to sit down and go right through. It's not full of dazzling technique, but it is truly profound. And every time you hit replay there is more to hear and to appreciate about a great pianist at the top of his game.