It's a shame the South African piano tradition is not as widely available, or as widely celebrated, as all that Scandinavian stuff. To be sure, they're both dialects of the language, but compelling in their own right and capable of pronunciation variations within each dialect. Illustrating the comparative lack of availability, I confess to having only previously heard of Mervyn Africa, and that's because of the time he spent in London from 1981 onwards. Unsurprisingly perhaps, these sessions recorded in the space of a single week reveal the influence of Cape Town's own Abdullah Ibrahim. As well as a specific tribute in Mervyn's brief trio version of ‘Mannenberg’, many melodies here are pentatonic, their gospel-like harmonies triadic and their rhythms definitely hypnotic (though there's also much out-of-tempo playing). Each pianist gets two tracks, except the youngest participant, Shepherd, whose long outing on prepared piano is a distinct change of pace. Further variety comes from Pacific Express veteran Shihab (now in his early seventies) whose fluent post-bop lines and rootless chords could benefit from the presence of a bassist. Not only a pleasant surprise, but an impressive listening experience.