The Jazz Ministers - Sekumaxa

barabara sounds sez:

A fantastic share dropped in the comments for King Kong by boogieman. I don't have much info about this particular album — it's from a CD reissue, but I'm guessing this is from the Jazz Ministers' heyday in the 70s, with Victor Ndlazilwana.

I'll post more details as they come available. In the meantime, thanks boogieman!

There's more from the Jazz Ministers over at the ever-excellent Electric Jive...

The great Nomvula's Jazz Dance and Ndize Bonono Na?


update (Aug. 2011)...
I've been getting a few more clues and background info about this excellent album: 
It seems like it was first issued in 1975 on Gallo under the name 'Zandile'. There's a link to the original cover art here...


PS (Sept. 2011)
And now the original album has just been gone up on Electric Jive. Head over there now to snare this most excellent post! Lots more details about the personnel, who included the young Nomvula Ndlazukwane on piano and Johnny Mekoa on flugelhorn.

King Kong – All African Jazz Opera

barabara sounds sez:

The last of this series of S.African posts: the seminal jazz opera that launched the international careers – and extended exiles – of both Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela. This is the recording of the 1959 original cast (there was also an album from the London cast), from the CD reissue on Celluloid. It's more of an artifact than a must-listen but there are some fine tracks. And the first – Sad times, bad times – is a classic. It's also wonderful to hear Mama Africa in one of her earliest recordings... Essential!!

wiki sez:

King Kong had an all-black cast. The musical portrayed the life and times of a heavyweight boxer, Ezekiel Dlamini, known as "King Kong". Born in 1921, after a meteoric boxing rise, his life degenerated into drunkenness and gang violence. He knifed his girlfriend, asked for the death sentence during his trial and instead was sentenced to 14 years hard labour. He was found drowned in 1957 and it was believed his death was a suicide. He was 36. This musical was a hit in South Africa in 1959 and played at the Princes Theatre in the West End of London in 1961.

soul safari has a great post with lots more background here...

track list:

Sad times, bad times; Marvellous muscles; King kong; Kwela long; Back of the moon; Petal’s song; Damn him; Strange; Better than new; Mad; Quickly in love; In the queue; It’s a wedding; Death song

band

Joseph Rubushe, Hugh Masekela, Simon Chose (tp); Gwangwa Jonas (aka Jonas Gwangwa), Dougmore Slinga (tb); Mackay Devashe (ts, orchestration, arr, leader); Sylvester Phahlane (ts); Christopher Coka (bass s); Gwigwi Mrwebi (cl); Kiepie Moeketsi (aka Kippie Moeketsi) (as, orchestration, arr); Sol Klaaste (p, orchestration, arr); General Duze (g); Jacob Lepere (b); Ben Maoela (d); Stanley Glasser (musical d, orchestration, arr); Arnold Dover (choreography); Harry Bloom (book).

Spokes Mashiyane - King Kwela

barabara sounds sez:

Who knew you could make such joyful sounds on a pennywhistle? Nobody, until Spokes came along. He even developed a whole new way of playing the instrument. This is the classic sound that emanated from the townships in those vibrant early years of S.African jazz. Yeah, I like it a lot (though I'm not so keen on that dark, dour cover)!

slipcue.com sez:

Bouncy South African pennywhistle, or kwela, music from the leader of the Solven Whistlers, and frequent early collaborator with Miriam Makeba and the Skylarks. Mashiyane pretty much made the pennywhistle a popular sound, and few people could match him for the expressiveness he brought to such a seemingly limited instrument. For an all-instrumental album highlighting a fairly oddball sound, this disc is far more captivating than one might imagine. Recommended!

from the sleeve notes:

Born in Northern Transvaal, Spokes spent his days tending his father's cattle and, to while away the long hours, he tried his hand at the primitive African reed flute... [Later in Johannesburg] one of his first acquisitions was a genuine penny whistle – costing 4s.6d! ...The design of the South African penny whistle is the same as that throughout the world but, by placing the mouthpiece vertically against the side of his left cheek and by introducing an entirely new fingering system, he was able to produce a roundness of tone hitherto unknown with this limited musical instrument.

Some good background on Spokes and Kwela music here at the National Geographic...

And there a great post of Spokes' Sweet Sax, Sweet Flute up at electric jive...

Highly recommended!

Update:

Eectric Jive hs been digging! Check out the fantastic Spokes 78s just posted over here and here...

Township Swing Jazz - Vol.1

barabara sounds sez:

More of those infectious sounds from that golden age of township jazz. This one features plenty of musicians who went on to become some of the best known in/from the country. In case you don't know the background, the innocuous-sounding Father Huddlestone Band — set up by the anti-apartheid priest (and later archbishop) Trevor Huddlestone — was actually the crucible that Hugh Masekela and also Jonas Mosa Gwangwa emerged from. Legend has it Masekela started playing on a trumpet donated by Louis Armstrong (talk about passing on the torch!) — though others say the horn was scrounged from the Salvation Army. Whichever version you care to believe, jive in. And go the bafana bafana!

slipcue.com sez:

A stellar collection of South African pop music from the 1940s and '50s -- probably the best introduction to this style that you can find, and fairly easy to track down. American swing and pop vocal styles are gloriously transmuted into utterly delectable melodic forms -- the perfect thing to put on some day when you're down in the dumps and want to feel really, really warm and fuzzy. This disc features the best artists of the time, the recordings of many of whom are maddeningly impossible to find anywhere else. Especially cool are Miriam Makeba's original vocal ensemble, The Skylarks, and the beautiful pennywhistle music of groups such as the Solven Whistlers. This is a fun, fascinating album, and highly, highly recommended!

Track listing:

1. De Makeba - Mackay Davashe

2. Emaxambeni - Eric Nomvete

3. Pula Kgosi Seretse - Miriam Makeba

4. Daily Bread - Fred Mekoa

5. Daddy Wami - Ntemi Piliso

6. Tlhapi Ke Noga - Sam Maile

7. Ndenzeni Na? (What Have I Done?) - Father Huddleston Band

8. Darlie Kea Lemang - Mary Rabotapi

9. Lalelani - Miriam Makeba

10. Yiyo Le - Eric Nomvete

11. Malayisha - traditional

12. Makambati - Mackay Davashe

13. Good Time Boys - Kippie Moeketsi

14. Zulu Jazz - Christoph Songxaka

15. Ke Ya Kae le Bona - Dolly Rathebe

16. African Jive - Ntemi Piliso

17. Ndixolele - Miriam Makeba

18. Misfhane - Father Huddleston Band

19. Motsoala - Father Huddleston Band

20. Hamba 2 - Dugmore Slinger

the jazz epistles - jazz epistle verse 1

barabara sounds sez:

What a group, what a sound, what a classic! All the way from 1960 and it still has the power to get you up and moving! Dollar Brand (aka Abdullah Ibrahim), Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, Johnny Gertze, Makaya Ntshoko and Kippie "Morolong" Moeketsi. Listen and rejoice!

There's a great review of this album and the musicians — with some fantastic photos too — at Hub Pages.

Global Rhythm Magazine sez:

The Jazz Epistles, whose core consisted of Brand, Kippie Moeketsi, Jonas Gwangwa and Masekela, had made the first South African recording by black musicians, Jazz Epistle: Verse 1, in 1959; they won first place at the first Cold Castle Jazz Festival two years later. But when given the chance to support the cast of the popular King Kong musical (in which Makeba was the female lead), they jumped on board to tour England. Curiously, less than 500 copies of Jazz Epistle were originally pressed, despite the group's overwhelming popularity. Subsequent reissues have made up for that.

Jazz Offerings From South Africa

barabara sounds sez:

I know I'm not the only person on the planet with half a mind on South Africa right now. So, looking ahead to the global football shenanigans, here's a compilation of music from there — issued in 1999 but covering a five-decade span (earliest 1950, most recent 1998), ranging in quality from alright to excellent to out and out classics. A reviewer at amazon.com gushes over the Alan Cameron track (and AMG thought she mostly heard 'Latin' music — was she listening to the same album, I wonder?). Personally I prefer the township jazz, especially those pennywhistle virtuosos. If your taste also veers that way, then listen out for the tracks by Makgona Tsohle Band, Big Voice Jack and the great Spokes Mashiyane. Consider these a preview for a few upcoming posts I've got planned.

Stay tuned — and don't blast your ears out on those vuvuzelas!

AMG (Stacia Proefrock) sez:

An amazingly diverse collection of musicians from South Africa playing music with jazz influences that range from subtle to unmistakably strong. Latin and smooth jazz styles predominate, mixed with Afro-beat and South African folk elements. The strength of each individual artist here is not remarkable -- no single performer really stands out with a stunningly great piece of music -- but the album nevertheless manages to intrigue the listener with its melding of musical cultures.

a customer at amazon sez:

healing, soulful sentiments and feelings from the composer and performers of this title, at an historic juncture in South African history. Particularly moving are the near to audible tears of the violinist and saxophonist whose unique solo's express one of the most truthful and reflective tributes to the life and times of Nelson Mandela. So saying it seems to be a warm and emotive musical embrace of South Africa's beautiful people & new leaders, who continue to build a nation whilst transcending everyday adversity after a long uphill struggle for peace and freedom.

Bheki Mseleku - Celebration

Bheki Mseleku piano, tenor sax, vocals; Eddie Parker flute (tracks: 3, 7); Courtney Pine soprano sax (track 10); Steve Williamson soprano sax (track 4); Jean Toussaint tenor sax (track 5); Michael Bowie bass; Marvin Smith drums; Thebe Lipere percussion (track 10)

barabara sounds sez:
Bheki was a self-taught piano prodigy; diabetic, bipolar and missing some fingers; Mercury Music Prize nominated; recorded with Courtney Pine, Joe Henderson, Abbey Lincoln, Elvin Jones and Pharoah Sanders. An exile, a world citizen. All-time great. Much respect.

Update: nobody seemed to notice when I posted this back in October but never put up a link...

This time round the link will be there :–)

wiki sez:
Bhekumuzi Hyacinth Mseleku, generally known as Bheki Mseleku (3 March 1955 – 9 September 2008) was a jazz musician from South Africa. He was a pianist, saxophonist, guitarist, composer and arranger who was entirely self taught.
Mseleku's father was a musician and teacher, and a Cambridge University music graduate, who had religious beliefs which prevented his children from ready access to the family's upright piano in case any of them should pursue something as "devilish" as music. His mother gave him the keys while his father was away, but the piano ended up as firewood one winters evening. During his childhood, Mseleku suffered the loss of the upper joints of two fingers in his right hand from a go-carting accident. He explained in a 1994 South Bank Show dedicated to him that this was wholly due to the restricted health care available to Black South Africans under Apartheid.

amazon sez:
Born in Durban, South Africa, Bheki Mseleku had worked with musicians such as Don Cherry and had collaborated on the Cry Freedom soundtrack, before he gave up music for several years. The retreat did him a world of good because on his return he recorded Celebration, his debut solo album. Playing piano, tenor sax and singing, Mseleku produced a marvellous mix of African and Western jazz music. Mseleku's piano playing owes a lot to McCoy Tyner and fellow South African, Abdullah Ibrahim, and in his vocals he possesses a decent impassioned rhythm. Many of his solos are outstanding and the length of the record gives him and his fellow musicians a chance to explore the textures of South African jazz. The musicians include British sax players Courtney Pine, Jean Toussant and Steve Williamson and Americans Marvin Smith (drums) and Michael Bowie (bass). The mix of the three continents works well and results in a groove spiritual but never sombre. A celebration indeed.