David Murray & Milford Graves: Real Deal 　　　　　　　　
DIW 867

David Murray (tenor saxophone on 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8, bass clarinet on 4 and 7),
Milford Graves (drums and percussion)

1. Stated With Peace (David Murray) 7:50
2. The Third Day (David Murray) 8:50
3. Luxor (David Murray) 8:29
4. Under & Over (Milford Graves) 6:03
5. Moving About (Milford Graves) 11:08
6. Ultimate High Priest (Milford Graves) 6:27
7. Essential Soul (Milford Graves) 10:49
8. Continuity (David Murray) 4:10

Recorded November 3, 1991, at Power Station, NYC

This album came 11 records into Murray’s tenure with DIW records and, as would be suggested by a duo performance with Milford Graves, it probably has more in common with Murray’s earlier performances than with his other work of that time. During most of October and early 1991 Murray seemed to have been locked in the Power Station recording studio in New York City, and with nothing else to do he embarked on a mammoth recording session with a wide array of different musicians. This duo performance was the last of a run that included a quartet with James Blood Ulmer, Murray’s then concert quartet with Bradford Marsalis added on two tracks, and a beautiful quartet/quintet recording with some of his earlier collaborators including Bobby Bradford, Dave Burrell, and Fred Hopkins.

‘Moving About’ is perhaps the most imaginative and satisfactory of the tracks as a collaboration. While elsewhere the sax and drums sometimes sound like they a running on parallel lines, here the drum textures seem to offer Murray something to work with, and his playing is ecstatic but rooted. Nevertheless my favourite track is ‘Essential Soul’. Perhaps because I favour Murray over Graves, and I always feel that this period is the strongest for Murray’s Bass Clarinet playing. Here Murray’s playing might be more independent, but Graves is more restrained, and he follows Murray’s lead even though this is the percussionist’s composition. I just adore Murray’s exposition. Others may find it meandering, and it doesn’t seem to have any sense of direction, or any musical resolution; it’s just one of those beautiful Murray journeys. I don’t really care where it is going. ‘Under & Over’ is almost jolly, and there is some real interaction as Murray takes a much more percussive role on Bass Clarinet, and produces some of his best squeals and squarks, in a uncanny copy of his tenor saxophone playing. This was a real instrumental master at work. ‘Luxor’ investigates the tumultuous side of Murray, and ‘The Third Day’ is almost middle eastern to my untrained ear, with lots of busy traps playing from Graves.

Graves is venerated as much, I feel, because his recordings are a rare commodity, and yet he is striking even amongst free drummers. He certainly became enamored of complex timbres and his playing is often more musical than rhythmic in the jazz swing sense. In the New York Art Quartet he started out as a conventional traps drummer in a strong and idealist group, joining Albert Ayler for Holy Ghost and Love Cry (where Graves seems totally dominated by the saxophonist), he then appeared intermittently on disc with a range of his own groups and in small-scale settings. I do love his work on Nommo with Don Pullen, in a combination of jangle and cavernous percussion with dark piano clusters that shouldn’t work, but does. This is real textual stuff, in which who is the percussionist and who the melodist seems a stupid question. I would be interested to find out who had the idea of pairing him with Murray. It isn’t that there wasn’t a precedent. Murray seemed to like percussive percussionists, and had played with Sunny Murray, Philip Wilson, and Andrew Cyrille within three years of arriving in New York. he then went on to work with some of the best drummers in jazz, followed by experiments with Kahil El’Zabar from the late 1980s into the 1990s. later Murray would explore a whole wider world of percussion in collaborations with African and Caribbean percussionists.

For those willing to spend a little time acclimatising, and especially if they are willing to suspend their belief that music has to have a purpose beyond the moment, this is exactly the real deal.

Wilber Morris / David Murray / Dennis Charles: Wilber Force 　　　　
DIW 809

Wilber Morris (b)
David Murray (ts 1-4 6,bcl 5)
Dennis Charles (d)

1. Randy (Wilver Morris) 12:55
2. P.C.O.P. #1 (Wilver Morris) 10:00
3. Miss Mack (Wilver Morris) 9:05
4. West Indian Folk Song (Dennis Charles) 8:40
5. Afro-Amer. Ind (Wilver Morris) 10:20
6. P.C.O.P. #2 (Wilver Morris) 11:35 　

Recorded live at February 6, 1983 at Kwame, NYC

This seems to be the second recording for Wilber Morris’ sometime bass-drums-sax trio. This one features the young (but long-time Morris associate) David Murray, and recent partner in rhythm (but fixture of the New York scene) Dennis Charles. Morris and Murray were both part of the tide of West Coast musicians setting up in New York in the mid 1970s to play in the loft scene, while Charles had been the powerhouse behind some of the key experimental musicians of New York’s avant guard since the early 1950s.

I bought this as part of my obsessive David Murray collecting, but it is now far from a completists addition. The bassist is clearly the leader here, composing all the themes with short names ( West Indian Folk Song is Charles’), and giving all the numbers their drive and shape. Murray is particularly effective in a trio, and the Morris themes seem to push him to some very different performances. Although I tend to think Murray can do no wrong, even I’d have to admit that he hardly ever subsumes himself into the setting he finds himself. In ‘Afro-Amer.Ind’, though, features his plaintive bass clarinet weaving through Morris’ bass figures and Charles’ choppy cymbal work. A bass and vocal chant leads to a long Murray solo, subsides into a bass solo with a intermittent gentle tap and brushed backing from Charles, before Murray and Charles burst back in stretch to the end. Meditative is probably the adjective. By contrast Charles’ jolly theme suits Murray well, and brings out a strong tight drums and bass performance.

‘Miss Mack’ is more subdued sax and Charles’ lovely drum textures. This one repays repeated listening. It’s remarkable how much is going on amongst the three musicians. The longest track, ‘Randy’, has one of those quirky rhythm-melody themes, and some constant changes of pace driven by bass and drum with Murray holding on for dear life! He does get to squeal a little here, though. there are two ‘PCOP’s, though I’m not clear what they are. A lovely theme set out by sax and bass with cracking physical playing from Charles. There’s a lot of unfocused meandering, but journey’s don’t have to be purposeful if there’s lots to hear on the way, and here the textures are just wonderful. This really is music for the moment that allows you to forget where you’ve come from, and care little about where your heading.

As far as I am aware this was the first time Murray was on a DIW recording, and a decade later this was going to be his main channel for releases. There’s a pattern in Murray’s history where he records as a sideman for a project and seems to establish a relationship that blossoms into a recording contract later on. This was also a bit of a return to small group recordings after septet and octet experiments (usually featuring Morris and his younger brother, Butch) interspersed with quartet recordings.

Along with Collective Improvisations (featuring Denis Charles and saxophonist Charles Tyler for Bleu Regard in 1981) this is an enjoyable record in its own terms, and a key point in Murray’s career that isn’t that well known.

morph33

This week I attended the New Jazz Histories Seminar at Salford University with my colleagues Paul Long and Andrew Dubber. Paul and I gave a presentation on the BBC documentary series Jazz Britannia. This is part of a wider project we are developing on popular music history and heritage at the Birmingham School of Media’s Interactive Cultures research centre. We’ll be writing this paper up as a full journal article, and I’ll post some of the background thinking at Wallofsound over the next few weeks, starting with the key points of our presentation.

Here I am writing primarily for those who attended the seminar, and others who may be interested in such debates. The discussion is therefore somewhat more abstract than my usual wallofsound posts.

The other papers at the seminar took a variety of approaches to jazz history: Alyn Shipton opened the discussions by linking his own fairly recent book to the papers that followed, and to his own oral history research and publication; Jason Squinobal (University of Pittsburgh) and then Adrian Goodman (York University Toronto) used musicology to investigate John Coltrane’s later career, and the innovations of Tony Williams and Miles Davis respectively; Jeremy Barham, (University of Surrey) and then Laurent Cugny (Université Paris-Sorbonne Paris IV) gave more theoretically-abstract reflections on issues of definition and periodisation in jazz; and finally Andy Fry (Kings College, University of London) produced a convincing and stimulating reappraisal of the career of Sidney Bechet in France using historical evidence. The issues of doing jazz historography was then discussed by a panel of Nicholas Gebhardt (University of Lancaster), George McKay (University of Salford), Catherine Parsonage (Open University), Alyn Shipton (RAM), Tony Whyton (University of Salford) and the wider seminar members. Hopefully the authors will turn their papers into articles for the Jazz Research Journal, and you’ll be able to read them at length in the months ahead.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, and provoked me to think about some key questions in research about jazz culture. Paul, Andrew and I certainly had a good discussion on the way home to Birmingham.

The diversity of approaches to jazz history have made the field a dynamic one, and there certainly isn’t an orthodoxy. However, I wonder if collectively we have focused on whatever methodology we have inherited, and in doing so we haven’t spent enough time on some central questions. Certainly such questions kept coming to my mind through the various papers, either because they centrally addressed issues, or because they ignored them, implicitly throwing up as many questions as they answered. Here are my initial observations and the questions that cristalised at the end of the day:

There seemed to be key unarticulated questions that threaded their way through all the papers: how do/should/can we understand jazz historically? Or put another way, how do we understand jazz in history?

My own use of historiography to explore popular music culture in its different manifestations has led to the increasing conviction that there isn’t a cultural object that is popular music, but that what music fans, music-makers and the media do and say constructs a changing sense of what popular music is as a whole, and what it is in any particular time and place. Jazz, it has always seemed to me, is the paradigm case. Put simply, there isn’t any such thing as jazz! Rather we need to understand that there is a way of ‘manufacturing’ a cultural object which has been (and is) termed jazz, but that this thing is a different thing at different times and places. Such a statement includes the idea that jazz sounds different at different times, or that jazz means different things to different people dependent on their historical or social location; but it also means far more. To understand what jazz is we shouldn’t look at the thing, but at what is said and done to bring it into existence.

I intend these statements to be a provocation. One I hope will continue the debate we started in Salford. However, you may also recognise my debt to the work of Michel Foucault, and his discussion of the nature of things, in such a proposition. Paul and I explicitly used this approach when we analysed the Jazz Britainnia series. Specifically, we argued that the programmes constructed a totalising history, in which the complexity of single moments are subsumed into a broad sweep of a historical narrative, which often seeks to justify a single idea.

I recognise, then, that my other observations follow from that position. Even if the other members of the seminar (and others interested in such questions) aren’t convinced by the starting position, I hope they’ll at least take seriously the ideas that flow from it, and use them to interrogate their own work.

First, I was struck how prevalent, in the analyses that were presented, were the use of pre-existing historical models (or even specific historical narratives), and the tendency of such models or narratives to totalise jazz. Laurent’s analysis made his historical narrative most explicit, and the totalising tendency was perhaps the strongest here. He suggested a new extended classic period in jazz which encompassed swing, bop and post bop styles. In doing so he pushed the modern moment of jazz past bop to free and modal forms of jazz practice. He explicitly drew upon the European notion that art reaches a mature, classic, phase, and that earlier music is an antecedent, while later forms formally interrogate the classic period in their self-conscious modernism. Central to his reclassification is the notion that swing and bop are united in a common practice which dominated jazz from a rupture around 1930, to the next rupture in 1960. I have argued that such notions are characteristic of all popular music histories. Laurent, though drew his paradigm from European art music frames of reference. Jason’s and Adrian’s analysis placed a heavy emphasis on textual scrutiny, the dominant approach used by trained musicologists. Perhaps my own lack of such training limits my understanding, but while I usually find these approaches interesting, I also feel they restrict history to the idea that the music changed. Jason certainly gave details of Coltrane’s personal history to contextualise his analysis, but then these are constructed as psychological determinants, and remove the idea of agency from that moment of history. Jazz musicians make meaningful choices in a cultural context, and while they make them out of the material provided by history, they are not determined by it. In such accounts the focus is on the very fine detail of what happened musically, rather than how the music signified in a wider culture, and why groups of music-makers do the new things they do.

Second, such analyses seem to suggest that there has been a relatively slight influence of theories of historiography from outside jazz studies as musicology. Historiography itself, and cultural and media studies, have been fields in which debates about what is history and how it should be researched and then written have been paramount. We should at least use these debates as reference points to discuss and evaluate what we do. Alyn did this effectively in regard to oral history, and something of the intelligence and communication skill that he brings to his writing and broadcasting was made plain in his paper. Jeremy was the most explicit amongst us in trying to apply work from cultural studies. Specifically he drew on Deleuze and Guattari’s use of the idea of the rhizome as a way of avoiding the reductive idea of roots common in historiography and the hierarchical relationships which are often utilised in cultural analysis. I’m entirely persuaded by this notion myself, but strangely Jeremy ended up with a series of completely dehistorised examples in the way he applied the idea. His suggestions did ‘flatten’ the ideas of European art analysis that dominates music study, but at the very same time it decontextualised jazz’s existence as a popular music.

This brings me to my third point. While jazz is clearly discursively constructed most often as an art music, I think that should alert us to the need to study the central role of critics and of the concerns of the listening and collecting audience (rather than musicians), rather than to make arbitrary musical connections between the formal properties of single practices of jazz and single practices of European art music. The idea of the rhizomal relationship more productively, I think, points us in the direction of jazz’s pace in wider popular culture (and therefore popular music). So often jazz is posed against popular music, when the common practices of jazz music-making are those of the popular, not the art musician, even if the common practice of the fan is very often similar to that of the art music (self-consious) connoisseur. Such an approach was practically demonstrated (exemplified, even) by Andy’s attention to the detail of Sidney Bechet’s music-making, and the facts of his life and music, as a way of rethinking the dominant historical narrative of jazz, and Bechet’s place in it. I hope I am not overwriting on his sensitive reading of the musician’s life when I point out that Bechet was a popular musician making a living in ways that were open to him at different points in his career.

More simply put, we need to avoid understanding the existing historical narratives of jazz as statements of truth, rather than frameworks which seek to make a complex world comprehensible. Making things comprehensible is, of course, the purpose of scholarship, but we must remember that such moments of understanding offer both uses and limitations in our attempt to grasp the significance of things in the world.

David Murray Flowers For Albert
India Navigation IN 1026
Recorded live on June 26 1976 at Ladies’ Fort, NYC

David Murray (ts)
Olu Dara (tp)
Fred Hopkins (b)
Phillip Wilson (d)

CD1
1. Flowers For Albert (Murray) (14:18)
2. Santa Barbara and Crenshaw Follies (Murray) (15:53)*
3. Joanne’s Satin Green Dress (Lawrence “Butch” Morris) (12:56)
4. After All This (Murray) (13:59)*

CD2
1. Roscoe (Murray) (9:05)
2. The Hill (Murray) (17:55)*
3. Ballad For A Decomposed Beauty (Murray) (9:18)

* not on original LP.

The original vinyl record released under this title was made up of parts of a live concert by Murray’s then quartet in one of New York’s famous 70s Jazz lofts, the Ladies’ Fort.

I’d been totally immersed in Murray’s 1980 work before I tracked a copy of this earlier recording down, and I can still remember being completely thrown. It is quite remarkable how mature all aspect of the record is. His compositions are some of the most notable of the 1970s, his playing is superb, and the group with then regular collaborators Dara, Hopkins and Wilson is one of the best of this period of jazz for my money. There’s a small, but very enthusiastic audience, and I try to visualise while listening what it must have been like to sit in a large post-industrial New York space and hear this music for the first time. It still makes the hairs on the back of my neck bristle today; how it must have felt to be there watching as well as listening I can only imagine.

The recording is significant for its music, its place in jazz history, and the way it has been used to interpret Murray. Here’s a few thoughts on all that:

There are ten versions of ‘Flowers for Albert’ to be listened to on Murray recordings. This was the first time it was recorded. Most bibliographies note that the title track is named after Albert Ayler, and then infer this as evidence that Murray is an Ayler disciple. The fact that Murray played some of his first New York gigs with his near namesake drummer Sunny Murray – who had been the powerhouse of Ayler’s 1964-5 recordings that included the mighty Spiritual Unity – must have made Murray very aware of Ayler. There are also some undoubted comparisons to be made. The obvious one, most often made, is that both men manipulate the saxophone in a manner that pushes it outside its ‘normal’ musical uses. Murray clearly shares Ayler’s early interest in pushing the mechanics of the instrument to do things few other players realised, or even imagined. Less often noted is the strong roots in, and exploration of, gospel music. Or more specifically the aspects of gospel that relate to the emotional power and ecstatic nature of gospel within African American music.

However, there are far more interesting things at play here. As the title suggests, and as Murray has confirmed in interviews, the flowers are to be left in memorial of Ayler’s death. The melody captures this perfectly. This version start with a Murray solo which tantalises us with fragments of the melody for a good minute before playing it through in its entirety. This is a simple and catchy line, and this interest in song-like melodies is probably the strongest characteristic of all Murray’s work. In interviews Murray tells us that the striking melodic line came into his head as he walked past the place on the bank of the East River where Ayler’s body was found. So, while other commentators make the link to Ayler playing in life as Murray’s major stylistic influence, we should perhaps see the sadness at his death as a catalyst for one example of Murray’s ability to articulate deep emotional responses through musical sound. I’ve several posts on this issue here if you’re interested.

The CD version I write about here is expanded from the original vinyl release (the other Murray India Navigation CD re-releases usually cut tracks or performance lengths). This allows us to listen to previously unreleased versions of ‘Santa Barbara And Crenshaw Follies’ and ‘The Hill’ which he was to record again later in his career, and ‘After All This’ which doesn’t seem to have been repeated. The twisted melody of ‘Follies’ precedes a great Murray solo set against marvelous Hopkins bass and Wilson’s skipping drum work and off-kilter punctuation from Dara. It’s a great example of Murray’s earlier interest in hyper-emotional playing around single fragments of the lovely melodies he wrote. Dara seems to understand the process brilliantly, and they pass the solo opportunity on like the baton in a relay. Murray recorded the Hill four times, and on each occasion he produces an epic piece of over 10 minutes. here its longer still at over 17 minutes. The dynamic of future recordings is here from the beginning, but it doesn’t yet have the majesty it would on Ming four years later.

I love ‘Joanne’s Green Satin Dress’ which has a great two horn theme and some beautiful playing from both Dara and Murray. Dara was later to be quite disparaging about the music he played during this time, as well as critical of players in the New York loft scene. You couldn’t tell that he was anything but delighted to be playing in this context on this track; and on the rest of the LP. ‘Roscoe’ meanders, but is sustained by a strong individual performance from Murray. It’s more like a sax solo with percussion sprinkles. ‘Ballad For A Decomposed Beauty’ is one of the strongest titled pieces Murray recorded, and the sense of decay and melancholy is apparent in the melody and the playing, especially from Murray and Hopkins on bowed bass.

By the way, don’t confuse this recording with the 1990 CD released by West Wind records of David Murray and the Low Class Conspiracy Flowers for Albert.

There’s a full discography of India Navigation records for you to peruse.

Dudu Pukwana Diamond Express 1975 Freedom FLP 41041

also released as Ubagile (Jazz Colours 874744-2)

Dudu Pukwana (Alto Saxophone)
Elton Dean (Saxello track 5)
Nick Evans (Trombone track 5)
Mongezi Feza (Trumpet)
Lucky Ranku (Guitar)
Frank Roberts (Keyboards tracks 1 to 4)
Keith Tippett (Piano track 5)
Ernest Mothole (Bass tracks 1 to 4) ,
Victor Ntoni (Bass track 5)
James Meine (Drums tracks 1 to 4) ,
Louis Moholo (Drums tracks 5)

1. Diamond Express
2. Bird Lives
3. Ubagile (See Saw)
4. Madodana (The Young Ones)
5. Tete And Barbs In My Mind

Recorded Autumn 1975, London

If you are not familiar with Dudu Pukwana, something of his background should indicate his importance in British jazz. He was one of the musicians who came together in the early 1960s South Africa in the multi-ethnic Blue Notes. You can imagine what the official response to such a group would be under the Apartheid regime of that time. The musicians relocated to Europe, and made their base in London. The Blue Notes fused multiple South African forms with African American jazz, and in Europe they engaged with the London, and wider European free movements. Pukwana’s music tended to emphasise the rhythmic patterns of both South African popular music, and African American funk with a acerbic emotionally charged alto playing style. His classic In the Townships is one of my all-time favourite records.

If you are familiar with Dudu Pukwana, but not with this recording a real treat lays in wait for you. For me, it is one of the most interesting record in the Pukwana discography. The first four tracks are by a group of Pukwana’s SA collaborators. They feature great rumbling rhythm section the drives the music. ‘Madodana’ is my favourite, featuring a percussion bridge built around Louis Moholo’s standard kit, and all the band on assorted clatter and shake. Frank Robert’s Fender Rhodes gives it a funky feel, and Pukwana and Feza are great if a little in the sidelines. ‘Ubagile’ is typical of Pukwana’s township jive, although his playing is a little more laid back, and Robert’s keyboards are mixed up higher than the alto. Sometimes Pukwana sounds like he’s fighting to be heard. ‘Tete and Barbs in my Mind’ is completely different. This is obviously due to the addition of Elton Dean on saxello and particularly Keith Tippett on piano. Pukwana is now far more strident, and higher in the mix, and matches Tippett’s discordant but very grand playing and the bands unison rich SA melodies. Mongezi died soon after this recording; a great loss to a great community of jazz players.

I’m not sure how this came to be originally issued on Arista’s Freedom label, but copies of the original LP are quite hard to find. It was rereleased on by the German DA music label Jazz Colours as Ubagile. Now seemingly OOP, I think a few more people should know this great music.

Clarinet Summit
In Concert at the Public Theater Vol. I/II
India Navigation 1062CD 1991

compiles both volumes released on vinyl as:
India Navigation 1062 (LP – 1984)
India Navigation 1067 (LP – 1985)

Recorded live in Spring 1981 at the Public Theatre, NY

Alvin Batiste (B flat clarinet),
John Carter (B flat clarinet),
Jimmy Hamilton (B flat clarinet),
David Murray (bass clarinet)

1.Introduction
2. Groovin’ High 2:33
3. The Jeep’s Blues 5:14
4. Mood Indigo (Duke Ellington) 2:06
5. Night Mist Blue (Jimmy Hamilton) 2:06
6. Waltz A Minute (Jimmy Hamilton) 1:11
7. Creole Love Call (Duke Ellington) 2:58
8. Honeysuckle Rose 7:48
9. Sweet Lovely (Murray) 5:59
10. Sticks and Bones 6:40
11. Solo and Ballad for Four Clarinets (John Carter) 12:45
12. The Washington Square Park Episode 6:52
13. Clariflavours (Alvin Batiste) 16:28

also on the vol. II LP (and not on the CD, or this post) ‘Satin Doll’ (Duke Ellington) 2:40

This is an interesting record where David Murray is a key member of an ensemble, rather than a leader. It comes from fairly early in his career, and represents one of his earliest substantial outings playing bass clarinet. The band is pretty much a clarinet version of the saxophone quartets which were in vogue in the 1980s. Led by John Carter, and featuring Ellington alumnus Jimmy Hamilton, in/out player Alvin Batiste, and Murray who had only taken up bass clarinet few years before.

The programme is an interesting mixture of original compositions from the group members and Ellington originals. The CD features sleeve notes by Stanley Crouch (doing a bit of historical contextualisation) and John Carter (explaining how the date came about). Crouch emphasises the New Orleans origins of jazz clarinet, evoking Bechet and Barney Bigard as precursors, and rightly says that the music chosen owes much to the success of the performances. Honeysuckle Rose highlights Batiste and Hamilton, and Murray solos on his own Sweet Lovely. The lengthier tracks show John Carter’s writing and arranging off to great effect, and are excellent examples of why I rate him as one of the master’s of jazz.

Given the long careers of the other three, the much younger Murray acquits himself superbly, and without any hesitation. The group practiced for three days before, but they sound completely at ease with each other. This inter-generational approach was to be a common feature of Murray’s later bands.

The recording stands up well after over 25 years, and it is one of the reasons India Navigation was such a collectable label. You’ll find a full discographic listing of the label at http://indianavigation.blogspot.com/

Julian Sebothane Bahula

South African-born, often UK-based percussionist, band leader, record label owner and concert promoter, Bahula has produced some lovely music over the years. All his records are worth owning (if you can find them) but the studio recordings never quite capture the live experience. I first came across Bahula’s music in the late 1970s, probably initially through his Thunder Into Our Hearts LP, which I heard at the radio station I was working on. The record was being promoted heavily by Virgin records, as part of their slew of reggae, afrorock and afrobeat records released at the time.. It was a couple of years until I saw him live, and he was often involved in events run by the Anti-Apartheid Movement. A much smaller-scale concert in the early 1980s at Manchester’s Band on the Wall will go down as one of my favourite live sets of all time. I can’t find a full discography, so here’s a start at one that aspires to (but is currently far from) comprehensiveness. Additional information most welcome. He has his own website at www.jabulamusic.com

He seems to have started his professional career as a member of The Malombo Jazz Men in the township of Mamelodia, Pretoria, South Africa. In late 1960s the band was made up of Philip Tabane (guitar and other instruments), Abe [Abbey?] Cindi (flute) and Julian Bahula (percussion). It was here that Bahula started playing the cow-hide malombo drums, and the group, as the name suggests, produced a traditionally-based, but jazz infused music: “the whistling swing of the dusty township, the rumble of the distant ancestral spirits & the confusion of the city’s bright neon rainbows, as reflected in the electric Ghetto Guitar” (source) Their music can be heard on a recently released CD from the 1964 Castle Lager Jazz Festival where the group won first prize.

Malombo Jazz Men Castle Lager Jazz Festival 1964
released 2006 (Sheer Sound)

Malombo Jazz Men
1. Foolish Fly
2. Your Neighbour
3. Chief’s Kraal
4. Blues For You
5. Zandile
6. Malombo Men’s Prayer

Early Mabuza Quartet
7. Little Old Man
8. Perseverance
9. The Idea
10. Just That Way
11. Barney’s Way

Malombo split in to 2 groups in 1966 – Philip Tabane keeping the name Malombo Jazz Men (later shortened to (Malombo) and replacing Bahula with Gabriel ‘Mabi’ Thobejane. Bahula and Cindi created the Malombo Jazz Makers using Lucky Ranku on guitar (source). There’s a Malombo discography at http://matsuli.blogspot.com/2008/11/music-of-spirit.html

In his biography Bahula says he came to Britain in 1973 with the SA prog-afro-rock band Jo’burg Hawk, although he doesn’t seem to have recorded with them. He returned to making music with Lucky Ranku, and extended beyond the Malombo trio to form Jabula; a multi-national band playing SA-inspired jazz. This band produced three LPs:

1975 Jabula Jabula

1976 Jabula Thunder Into Our Hearts (Virgin)

A1 Thunder Into Our Hearts
A2 Soweto My Love
A3 Ithumeleng Ba Mamelodi”
B1 Tears Of Afrika
B2 Baleka – Run Away
B3 Journey To Afrika
B4 Harvest Part II

1978 Jabula – Afrika Awake (Varagram)

the cover features photographs of Bahula in Amsterdam, and anti-Apartheid demonstrations in the same city.

Terri Quaye,
Graham Morgan [Australia] (drums)
Ken Ely [UK]
Bob Howes [UK]
Dave Defries [UK]
Lucky Ranku [SA]
Pinise Saul [SA]
Ernest Mothle [SA]
Mike Rose [Caribbean] ((alto saxophone, flute)
Steve Scipio [Caribbean] (bass)

Rose and Scipio had been members of Uk afrofunk band Cymande.

A1 Afrika Awake
A2 Thunder
A3 Mathome
A4 Sorrows
B1 Soweto My Love
B2 Soweto’s Children
B3 Sia Kala
B4 I Know My Way
B5 Raining In Amsterdam

1979 Jabula African Soil (Plane)

dnk Jabula Zuid-Afrikaanse Muziek

1982 Jabula - Jabula With Me (Plane)

1982 Jazz Afrika Son of the Soil (Tsafrika 001)

Michael Nielson (flute, tenor, soprano saxophone)
Mervyn Africa (piano)
Lucky Ranku (guitar)
Roberto Bellatalla (bass)
Chucho Merchan (bass)
Peter Segona (trumpet)
Alan Jackson (drums)
Julian Bahula (Malombo drums)

A1 Molebatsi
A2 Tribute To Our People
A3 What’s Wrong With Jazz!!
B1 Woza Cindi
B2 Son Of The Soil
B3 Morwa Bahula

1983 Jazz Afrika – African Sounds For Mandela (Tsafrika)

1999 Julian Bahula Featuring Chico Freeman Wind Of Change

Chico Freeman
Peter Lemer
Geoff Castle
Micky Jacques

1. Wind Of Change [5.18]
2. Make It Happen [5.13]
3. Tribute To You [4.52]
4. Mandela Village [6.12]
5. Back To The Soil [4.55]
6. Heita Cindi [5.07]
7. Time For Afrika, Part 1 [6.10]
8. Mamelodi Moods [8.18]

Julian Bahula got in touch to tell me this is only available in South Africa on Gallo. He’s looking for UK release if any one is interested.

2007 Jabula Julian Bahula Live Again

1. Uya Hamba
2. Sechaba The People
3. I’m Up And About
4. Live Again Bahula
5. Joy Of A Nation
6. Images Of Magubane
7. Changes Of The Wind
8. Bahula Bahula
9. Mamelodi Revisited
10. Tears For OR Tambo
11. Heita Cindi
12. The Woman Next To Me

Julian Bahula got in touch to tell me this is only available in South Africa on Gallo. He’s looking for UK release if any one is interested.

I haven’t been able to find a decent discography for Dudu Pukwana, so this is a start of a listing of Pukwana’s LPs as leader that builds on the best parts of the others.

Dudu Pukwana

1969 Dudu Pukwana and The Spears (Quality LTJ-S 232, May 1969)

Pezulu (Way Up)
Thulula (Fill It Up)
Kuthwasi Hlobo (Spring)
Half Moon
Yima Njalo (Stick Around)
Kwa Thula (Thula’s Place)
Joe’s Jika (Joe’s Groove)
Nobovmu (Red Head)
Qonqoza (Knock)

1971 Assagai Assagai

Dudu Pukwana (alto)
Mongezi Feza (tenor)
Bizo Muggikana (tenor)
Fred Frederick (tenor)
Fred Coker (guitar)
Charles Ononogbo (bass guitar)
Louis Moholo (drums)
Terry Quaye (Conga)

1. Telephone Girl (Duhig / Field / Havard)
2. Akasa (Coker)
3. Hey Jude (Lennon / McCartney)
4. Cocoa (Coker)
5. Irin Ajolawa (Duhig / Coker)
(misprinted as “Irin Ajoliana” on the CD reissue)
6. Ayioe (Coker)
7. Beka (Pukwana)
8. I’ll Wait For You (Coker)

Assagai means spear in the Bantu language (source)

1972 Assagai Zimbabwe

Dudu Pukwana (alto and piano)
Mongezi Feza (tenor)
Bizo Muggikana (tenor)
Fred Frederick (tenor/baratone)
Fred Coker (guitar)
Charles Cuonogbo ? (bass guitar)
Louis Moholo (drums)
Terry Quaye (conga)
Smiley de Jonnes (congas/percussion)
Martha Mdenge (vocals)
with: Tony Duhig (guitar), Jon Field (bass guitar), and Glyn Havard (flute/percussion) (from prog rock band Jade Warrior)

A1 – Barazinbar
A2 – Wanga
A3 – La La
A4 – Dalani
B1 – Bayeza
B2 – Sanga
B3 – Come Along
B4 – Kinzambi

A clear attempt to produce Osibisa’s then recent success right down to the Roger Dean designed cover. Re-released as AfroRock (Music for Pleasure)

1973? Simba and Assagai Afro Rock Festival

Simba:
Dudu Pukwana (alto and piano)
Mongezi Feza (tenor)
Bizo Muggikana (tenor)
Fred Frederick (tenor/baratone)
Tony Duhig (guitar)
Jon Field (bass guitar)
Glyn Havard (flute/percussion)

Assagai:
Dudu Pukwana (alto and piano)
Mongezi Feza (tenor)
Bizo Muggikana (tenor)
Fred Frederick (tenor/baratone)
Fred Coker (guitar)
Charles Cuonogbo ? (bass guitar)
Louis Moholo (drums)
Terry Quaye (conga)
Smiley de Jonnes (congas/percussion)
Martha Mdenge (vocals)
with: Tony Duhig, Jon Field, and Glyn Havard (from prog rock band Jade Warrior)

1. African Rhapsody Part 1 (by Chaka)
2. Black Ant (by Osibisa)
3. Kotoka (by Osibisa)
4. Movin’ (by Simba)
5. Louie Louie (by Simba)
6. Kondo (by Assagai)
7. Jabula (by Assagai)
8. Tiksh Billa (by Grutz)
9. Listen Here (by Grutz)
10. African Rhapsody Part 2 (by Chaka)

1973 In the Townships Virgin C1504

Recorded August 25 and November 10, 1973, Manor Studio, London.

Dudu Pukwana and Spear:
Dudu Pukwana (alto saxophone, piano, vocal, percussion)
Bizo Mngqikana (tenor saxophone, vocal, percussion)
Mongezi Feza (trumpet, vocal, percussion)
Harry Miller (bass)
Louis Moholo (drums)

1 Baloyi 5:18
2 Ezilalni 6:43
3 Zukude 5:43
4 Sonia 3:28
5 Angel Nemali 6:04
6 Nobomyu 4:00
7 Sekela Khuluma 4:14

1975 Diamond Express Freedom FLP 41041

Re-released in 1999 as Ubagile

Dudu Pukwana (Alto Saxophone)
Elton Dean (Saxello track 5)
Nick Evans (Trombone track 5)
Mongezi Feza (Trumpet)
Lucky Ranku (Guitar)
Frank Roberts (Keyboards tracks 1 to 4)
Keith Tippett (Piano track 5)
Ernest Mothole (Bass tracks 1 to 4) ,
Victor Ntoni (Bass track 5)
James Meine (Drums tracks 1 to 4) ,
Louis Moholo (Drums tracks 5)

1. Diamond Express
2. Bird Lives
3. Ubagile
4. Madodana
5. Tete And Barbs In My Mind

I discuss the album in more detail here

1975 Flute Music Caroline (Earthworks rerelease)

Dudu Pukwana (alto sax, piano, percussion)
Mongezi Feza (trumpet, flute, congas, percussion)
Victor Williams (keyboards)
Pete Cowling (bass)
John Stevens (drums)
“Bob,” congas.Dudu Pukwana (alto sax, piano, percussion)
Mongezi Feza (trumpet, flute, congas, percussion)
Victor Williams (keyboards)
Pete Cowling (bass)
John Stevens (drums)
“Bob,” congas.

1 Flute Music
2 Shekele
3 Ko-didi
4 Sondela
5 Freeze
6 You Cheated Me
7 Flute Music

1979 Yi Yole (ICP 021)

Recorded by Misha Mengelberg at Uithoorn, Holland on September 2-5, 1978.

Dudu Pukwana Alto, Whistle (Human)
Han Bennink Viola, Clarinet, Drums, Trombone
Misha Mengelberg Piano

1 Yi Yole (Pukwana) 9:10
2 The Weasle Is Called Easle (Bennink) 10:38
3 Silopobock (Mengelberg) 18:26

1981 Zila Sounds Live At The 100 Club JIKAZLC1

Dudu Pukwana
Harry Beckett
Mark Wood
Smiley De Jones(Conga)
Pinise Saul(Vo)
Ernest Mothle

1983 Live in Bracknell and Willisau

Recorded live at Bracknell Jazz Festival, England 1983 by Tim Summerhayes and at Willisau Jazz Festival, Switzerland 1983 by Peter Pfister

Dudu Pukwana (Alto Saxophone)
Harry Beckett (Trumpet, Flugelhorn)
Lucky Ranku (Guitar)
Django Bates (Keyboards)
Eric Richards (Bass)
Churchill Jolobe (Drums)
Fats Ramoba Mogoboya (Percussion)
Pinise Saul (Vocals)

A1 Hug Pine (Bambelela)
A2 Mahlomole (Lament)
A3 Lafente (Ntabeni – In The Mountains)
A4 Baqanga Bay
B1 Funk Them DP To Eriko
B2 Ziyekeleni (Let Them Be)
B3 The Big (Pine)apple
B4 Zama Khwalo (Try Again)
B5 Freely

1986 Zila Zila 86 (JIKAZL3)

1987 Mbizo Radebe [They Shoot to Kill] Affinity

Recorded at The Glass Trap, Southall, Middlesex, England, January 14 1987.
This album is a dedication to the loving memory of Johnny Mbizo Dyani.

Dudu Pukwana (Alto and Soprano Saxophone Piano, Vocals)
John Stevens (Drums, Mini Trumpet)

1 Mbizo Radebe, Pt. 1 [They Shoot to Kill]
2 Mbizo Radebe, Pt. 2 [They Shoot to Kill]

1990 Cosmics Chapter 90 Ah Um

Recorded in London on November 2, 1989

1. Mra Khali
2. Hamba (Go Away)
3. Big Apple
4. Cosmics
5. Blues For Nick
6. Zwelistsha

Dudu Pukwana (alto and soprano saxophones)
Pinise Saul (vocals, cabassa)
Lucky Ranku (guitar)
Eric Richards (bass)
Roland Perrin (keyboards)
Steve Arguelles (drums)
Fats Romoba Mogoboya (congas)

Other recordings featuring Dudu Pukwana I have thus far listed:

1963 Chris McGregor Jazz – The African Sound

Dudu Pukwana
Barney Rabachane
Nick Moyake
Christopher Columbus Ngcukane
Kippie Moeketsi on saxes
Bob Tizzard
Blyth Mbityana
Willie Nettie on trombones
Dennis Mpali
Ebbie Creswell
Mongezi Feza
Noel Jones on trumpets
Sammy Maritz (bass)
Early Mabusa (drums)

1.Switch
2.Kippie
3.Eclipse at Dawn
4.Early Bird
5.I Remember Billie
6.Now

1964 The Blue Notes – Township Bop. Recorded in 1964 in Capetown, South Africa
released on CD by Proper CD 013, 2002

Dudu Pukwana,
Nick Moyake (saxophone);
Mongezi Feza (trumpet);
Chris McGregor (piano);
Louis Tebugo Moholo (drums).

1. School Boy – The Blue Notes, Pukuwana, Dudu
2. Now – The Blue Notes, McGregor, Chris
3. The Blessing Light
4. The Blessing Light
5. Take the Coltrane – The Blue Notes, Ellington, Duke
6. Angelica – The Blue Notes, Ellington, Duke
7. Kay
8. Kay
9. Vortex Special – The Blue Notes, McGregor, Chris
10. Never Let Me Go – The Blue Notes, Livingston
11. Izithunywa
12. Blue Nick
13. Coming Home
14. Dick’s Pick – The Blue Notes, McGregor, Chris

1967 Gwigwi Mrwebi – Mbaqanga Songs. (77 Records) [orig recorded January 1967]
released on CD by Honest Jon’s HJRCD103, 2007

Gwigwi Mrwebi alto saxophone
Dudu Pukwana alto saxophone
Ronnie Beer tenor saxophone
Chris McGregor piano
Coleridge Goode double bass
Laurie Allan drums

1968 Chris McGregor Group Very Urgent
[Rereleased on Fledg'ling Records in 2008]

Chris McGregor (p)
Mongezi Feza (pocket t)
Dudu Pukwana (as)
Ronnie Beer (ts)
Johnny Dyani (b)
Louis Moholo (d)

Marie My Dear / Travelling Somewhere
Heart’s Vibrations
The Sound’s Begin Again / White Lies
Don’t Stir The Beehive

1969 Jonas Gwangwa & The African Explosion Who? (Ngubani).

Dark City
Switch #2
Switch #1
Szaba Szaba
Kwatula
Chant
Who
African Sausage

1969 Chris McGregor Up To Earth (Fledg’ling Records)
[1969 sessions released in 2008]

Mongezi Feza (trumpet)
Dudu Pukwana (alto saxophone)
Evan Parker (tenor saxophone)
John Surman (baritone saxophone and bass clarinet)
Chris McGregor (piano)
Barre Phillips, Danny Thompson (double bass)
Louis Moholo (drums)

1. Moonlight Aloe
2. Yickytickee; Union Special
3. Up To Earth
4. Years Ago Now

Harry Miller Isipingo

1970 John Martyn - Road to Ruin (Island)

John Martyn – vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards
Beverley Martyn – vocals, guitar
Dudu Pukwana – saxophone
Lyn Dobson – flute
Dave Pegg – bass
Rocky Dzidzornu – percussion
Paul Harris – keyboards
Wells Kelly – drums
Mike Kowalski – drums
Alan Spenner – bass
Ray Warleigh – saxophone
Danny Thompson – bass

1. Primrose Hill (B. Martyn)
2. Parcels (J. Martyn)
3. Auntie Aviator (J. Martyn, B. Martyn)
4. New Day (J. Martyn)
5. Give Us A Ring (Paul Wheeler)
6. Sorry To Be So Long (J. Martyn, B. Martyn)
7. Tree Green (J. Martyn)
8. Say What You Can (J. Martyn, B. Martyn)
9. Road To Ruin (J. Martyn)

[John Kieffer tells me that John Martyn also made a whole album in collaboration with Dudu that was never released!]

1970 Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath (Neon RCA) Re-released on Akarma

Chris McGregor (piano, xylophone)
Dudu Pukwana (alto sax)
John Surman (baritone sax, soprano sax)
Mike Osborne (alto sax; Alan Skidmore, soprano sax, tenor sax)
Harry Beckett (trumpet)
Marc Charig (cornet)
Mongezi Feza (Indian flute, pocket trumpet)
Ronnie Beer (flute, tenor sax)
Nick Evans (trombone)
Malcolm Griffiths (trombone)
Harry Miller (bass)
Louis Moholo (percussion, drums)

1.Mra
2.Davashe’s Dream
3.Bride
4.Andromeda
5.Night Poem
6.Union Special

1971 Brotherhood Of Breath Brotherhood RCA

Chris McGregor (piano)
Dudu Pukwana (alto sax)
Alan Skidmore (tenor sax, soprano sax)
Gary Windo (tenor sax)
Malcolm Griffiths, Nick Evans (trombone)
Harry Beckett, Marc Charig (trumpet, flugerhorn)
Mike Osborne (alto sax, clarinet)
Mongezi Feza (trumpet)
Harry Miller (double bass)
Louis Moholo (drums)

01. Nick Tete (5:58)
02. Joyful Noises (13:50)
03. Think Of Something (7:46)
04. Do It (8:56)
05. Funky Boots March (1:19)

1971 Bremen To Bridgwater (first released on Cuneiform Records in 2004)
[recorded on June 20th, 1971 at the Lila Uele jazz club in Bremen]
[Bridgewater Arts Center in February and November of 1975]

Mike Osborne,
Evan Parker,
Dudu Pukwana
Alan Skidmore
Gary Windo
Harry Beckett
Marc Charig
Elton Dean
Nick Evans
Harry Miller
Louis Moholo

CD 1
1. Funky Boots March

2. Kongi’s Theme
3. Now
4. Bride
5. Think of Something
6. Union Special
7. Andromeda
8. Do It
9. Serpent’s Kindly Eye
CD 2
1. Sonia
2. Now
3. Yes, Please
4. Restless
5. Kwhalo

1971 Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath Eclipse at Dawn
[recorded Berliner Jazztage on November 4, 1971 by German radio]

1. Introduction
2. Nick Tete
3. Restless
4. Do It
5. Eclipse at Dawn
6. Bride
7. Now
8. Funky Boots March
9. Send off and Applause

1971 Mike Heron – Smiling Men with Bad Reputations (Elektra)

Mike Heron – Guitar, Keyboards
John Cale – Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Gerry Conway – Drums
Tony Cox – Synthesizer
Pat Donaldson – Bass
John Entwistle – Bass
Sue Glover – Vocals
Mike Kowalski – Drums
Malcolm Le Maistre – Clarinet
Sunny Leslie – Vocals
Dave Mattacks – Drums
Keith Moon – Drums
Simon Nicol – Guitar
Dave Pegg – Bass
Dudu Pukwana – Saxophone
Rose Simpson – Bass
Liza Strike – Vocals
Richard Thompson – Guitar
Pete Townshend – Guitar
Heather Wood – Vocals

1. Call Me Diamond [4.42]
2. Flowers Of The Forest [5.44]
3. Audrey [4.10]
4. Brindaban [3.53]
5. Feast Of Stephen [4.37]
6. Spirit Beautiful [5.19]
7. Warm Heart Pastry [6.02]
8. Beautiful Stranger [7.22]
9. No Turning Back [3.14]
10. Make No Mistake [3.07]
11. Lady Wonder [4.20]

1971 Oiling Boiling Beka UFO (3)

1971 Mick Greenwood Living Game Pukwana plays alto sax on ‘Keep Coming Back’

1971 Mick Softley Street Singer Pukwana plays alto sax.

1971 Centipede Septober Energy Neon (RCA)

personnel include:
Ian Carr (trumpet, flugelhorn)
Mongezi Feza (trumpet, pocket cornet)
Elton Dean (alto saxophone, saxello)
Dudu Pukwana (alto saxophone)
Larry Stabbins, Gary Windo, Brian Smith, Alan Skidmore (tenor saxophones)
Paul Rutherford (trombone)
Keith Tippett ( piano and musical director)
Harry Miller ( bass)
John Marshall, Tony Fennell, Robert Wyatt (drums and all percussion)

Record 1
1. “Septober Energy – Part 1″ – 21:43
2. “Septober Energy – Part 2″ – 23:34

Record 2
1. “Septober Energy – Part 3″ – 21:21
2. “Septober Energy – Part 4″ – 18:45

1972 Hugh Masekela Home Is Where The Music Is (Aka The African Connection) Blue Thumb Chisa Bts 6003

Hugh Masekela (flhrn);
Dudu Pukwana (as);
Larry Willis (p, el-p);
Eddie Gomez (b);
Nakhaya Ntshoko (d).

Part Of A Whole (Caiphus Semenya) – 9:37
Minawa (S. Toure) – 9:38
The Big Apple (Caiphus Semenya) – 7:52
Umhome (Miriam Makeba) – 5:20
Maseru (Hugh Masekela) – 7:12
Inner Crisis (Larry Willis) – 5:52
Blues For Huey (K. Moeketsi) – 6:26
Nomali (Caiphus Semenya) – 7:20
Maesha (Caiphus Semenya) – 11:49
Ingoo Pow-Pow (Children’s Song) (Caiphus Semenya) – 6:47

1973 Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath Travelling Somewhere (released in 2001 on Cuneiform Records)
[recorded January 19th, 1973 in Bremen, Germany]

Harry Beckett, Mark Charig, Mongezi Feza (tp)
Nick Evans, Malcolm Griffiths (tb)
Mike Osborne, Dudu Pukwana (as)
Evan Parker, Gary Windo (ts)
Chris McGregor (p)
Harry Miller (b)
Louis Moholo (d)

1. MRA
2. Restless
3. Ismite Is Might
4. Kongi’s Theme
5. Wood Fire
6. Bride
7. Travelling Somewhere
8. Think Of Something
9. Do It

1974 Live At Willisau Ogun

Harry Beckett, Mark Charig, Mongezi Feza (tp)
Nick Evans, Radu Malfatti (tb)
Mike Osborne, Dudu Pukwana (as)
Evan Parker, Gary Windo (ts)
Chris McGregor (p)
Harry Miller (b)
Louis Moholo (d)

1. Do It
2. Restless
3. Camel Dance
4. Davashe’s Dream
5. Kongi’s Theme
6. Tunji’s Song
7. Ismite Is Might
8. Serpent’s Kindly Eye
9. Andromeda
10. Union Special
11. Funky Boots

1977 Blue Notes Blue Notes For Mongezi (OGCD 025/026)
[Recorded on 23 December 1975 in a rehearsal room in London]

Chris McGregor, piano, percussion
Dudu Pukwana, alto saxophone, whistle, percussion, voice
Johnny Dyani, bass, bell, voice
Louis Moholo, drums, percussion, voice

Blue Notes for Mongezi: first movement (42.14)
Blue Notes for Mongezi: second movement (36.31)
Blue Notes for Mongezi: third movement (41.07)
Blue Notes for Mongezi: fourth movement (37.11)

1978 In Concert Volume 1 (Ogun)

Dudu Pukwana (as)
Chris McGregor (p)
Johnny Dyani (b)
Louis Moholo (d)

A1 Ilizwi
A2 Abelusi
A3 Amadoda
A4 Nomsenge
A5 Magweza
A6 Ithi-gqi
A7 Mhegebe
B1 Manje
B2 We Nduna

1978 Chris Mcgregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath Procession (Ogun OG 524)
[Recorded live in Toulouse on May 10, 1977]

Harry Beckett, Mark Charig(tp)
Radu Malfatti(tb)
Mike Osborne, Dudu Pukwana(as)
Evan Parker(ts)
Bruce Grant(bs,fl)
Chris McGregor(p)
Johnny Dyany, Harry Miller(b)
Louis Moholo(ds)

Sunrise Of The Sun
Sonia
Kwalo

1978 Johnny Dyani Witchdoctor’s Son (Steeplechase 12962) [Recorded Stockholm, 1979]

Dudu Pukwana (alto & tenor sax)
John Tchicai (alto & soprano sax)
Johnny Dyani (bass)

A1 Heart With Minor’s Face 4:14
A2 Ntyilo, Ntyilo 5:12
A3 Radebe 6:36
A4 Mbiza 4:46
B1 Eyomzi 7:00
B2 Magwaza 13:20

1978 Johnny Dyani Quartet Song For Biko (Steeplechase 12963)

Don Cherry (cornet)
Dudu Pukwana (alto sax)
Makaya Ntshoko (drums)
Johnny ‘Mbizo’ Dyani (bass)

1981 Johnny Dyani Quartet Mbizo – (Steeplechase 12964)

Dudu Pukwana
Ed Epstein
Johnny ‘Mbizo’ Dyani
Churchill Jolobe

1. Dorkay House
2. House Arrest
3. Musician’s Musician
4. Dedicated To Mingus

1981 Tent Six Empty Places (Cherry Red)

Dudu Pukwana
Gavin Povey
Keith Bradshaw
Kim Middleton
Lloyd Ryan
Mike Alway

A1 Seven Years Part 1 (No Thought)
A2 Seven Years Part 2 (Abundance)
A3 Parachuting in Bolivia
A4 Intellectual Stance
A5 No Way of Knowing
B1 Dockland Lullaby Part 1
B2 Dockland Lullaby Part 2
B3 She’s Waiting to Be Looked at, (Hanging on a Thread)
B4 Shiny Black F.B.I Shoes, Up and Down the Stairs / I Thought Things Were Ironed Out

1987 Blue Notes For Johnny (Ogun OGCD 028)
[Recorded on 18 August 1987 at Redan Studios, London]

Chris McGregor, piano
Dudu Pukwana, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone
Louis Moholo, drums, percussion

Funk dem Dudu/To Erico (10.00)
Eyomzi (04.53)
Ntyilo Ntyilo (07.55)
Blues for Nick (04.39)
Monks & Mbizo (09.51)
Ithi gqi/Nkosi Sikelee L’Afrika (08.41)
Funk dem Dudo (05.30)
Eyomzi (05.01)
Funk dem Dudu/To Eriico (08.443)

commemorates the death of Johnny Dyani

1988 Fast Colour Antwerp 1988 – Suite for Johnny Mbizo Dyani (released on Loose Torque in 2004)
[Recorded live at the WIM Concert, Antwerp in 1988]

John Stevens drums/leader
Harry Beckett trumpet
Evan Parker tenor saxophone
Dudu Pukwana alto/soprano saxophones
Pinise Saul vocals
Nick Stephens double bass
Annie Whitehead trombone/vocals

Now Time (5:16)
Way It Goes (12:00)
John Dyani’s Gone (21:36)
Mbizo (5:18)
Way It Goes/Now Time (7:09)

unknown date Various White Bicycles – Making Music In The 1960s (Fledg’ling Records 2006)

Church Mouse by Dudu Pukwana & Spear (previously unreleased)

[Is Pukwana on other folkish albums in the late 60s and 70s - , Mick Softley?]

My chapter on fad dances of the 50s and 60s should be out soon. I cover the Madison and the Twist in some detail. I have to say I loved producing this, in large part because Julie Malnig was such a great editor. The book has a great title as well. I haven’t read the other chapters myself yet, but it does look good overall. Amazon are promoting advanced copies here.

This is what the publisher’s publicity has to say:

“An incredibly needed volume for undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, and advisors in the field of dance. These essays afford compelling glimpses into communities dancing in particular places and times; the authors provide nuanced understandings of dancing as a means of forming identity and community.”
Ann Dils, co-editor of Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance History Reader

“This invaluable volume covers an impressive range of genres, illuminating the liveliness and diversity of social dance. The book makes a unique contribution at a time when the field of dance studies is expanding to include forms other than Euro-American concert dance. An excellent book and a godsend for classroom use.”
Tricia Henry Young, director of the graduate program in American dance studies, Florida State University

This dynamic collection documents the rich and varied history of social dance and the multiple styles it has generated, while drawing on some of the most current forms of critical and theoretical inquiry. The essays cover different historical periods and styles; encompass regional influences from North and South America, Britain, Europe, and Africa; and emphasize a variety of methodological approaches, including ethnography, anthropology, gender studies, and critical race theory. While social dance is defined primarily as dance performed by the public in ballrooms, clubs, dance halls, and other meeting spots, contributors also examine social dance’s symbiotic relationship with popular, theatrical stage dance forms.Contributors are Elizabeth Aldrich, Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, Yvonne Daniel, Sherril Dodds, Lisa Doolittle, David F. Garcia, Jurretta Jordan Heckscher, Constance Valis Hill, Karen W. Hubbard, Tim Lawrence, Julie Malnig, Carol Martin, Juliet McMains, Terry Monaghan, Halifu Osumare, Sally R. Sommer, May Gwin Waggoner, Tim Wall, and Christina Zanfagna.

Kahil El’Zabar with David Murray Golden Sea

Sound Aspects Records 027
Recorded January 28,1989 in Chicago

Kahil El’zabar (traps, earth d, ashiko d, mbira, sanza, ankle bells, vc)
David Murray (ts, bcl)

1. Golden Sea (Kahil El’Zabar) 10:50
2. Dreams (Kahil El’Zabar) 5:55
3. Sunrise Serenade (Kahil El’Zabar) 7:55
4. Sweet Meat (Kahil El’Zabar) 7:40
5. All Blues (Miles Davis) 10:10
6. Song For A New South Africa (David Murray) 4:45

Kahil El’Zabar and David Murray seem to bring out something special in each other. They’ve been consistent collaborators: El’zabar has been in a couple of Murray’s quartets (including the excellent, but hard to find, People’s Choice) and a couple of Octets; while Murray’s been on four duo albums under El’zabar’s name. All the duo recordings are worth owning, but this (for me) is the strongest. It’s also sadly the hardest to get hold of; and I’m not sure it even got a CD release.

El’Zabar and Murray share an interest in Afro-centric music and pan-African culture, and this is apparent in much of the music here. The very title of Murray’s ‘Song For A New South Africa’ is an index of this. However, the orientation is surprisingly best achieved on their interpretation of Miles Davis’ ‘All Blues’. Murray is at his plaintive best on Bass Clarinet, while El’Zabar plays the Mbira or Sanza (which the LP lists as separate instruments, but which I’ve always understood them to be two names for the same Shona ‘thumb piano’ instrument). The track reaches its peak with Murray playing and El’Zabar singing. This is, perhaps, my favorite piece of Murray Bass Clarinet ‘ballad’ playing. He seems to take a perverse pleasure in playing a bass instrument beyond its usual highest frequencies, and draws upon the textures of gospel playing to create a sound I find deeply affecting. A haunting and beautifully-realised cultural and musical fusion. ‘Sunrise Serenade’ features El’Zabar alone on Mbira/Sanza with ankle bells and a wordless vocal and rhythmic chants. It’s one of the best tracks on the LP for me, though some may find it a step too far beyond jazz sensibilities.

Each track has a distinctive texture, achieved most often by El’Zabar’s use of different percussion instruments (Murray has never made major changes to playing style across his whole career, let alone an LP). ‘Dreams’ features a hand drum (I’m guessing it’s the Ashiko drum) and a more meditative and gentler start for Murray on tenor before his characteristic gospel-rich style kicks in. I’m also speculating when I say this sounds like a total improvisation from Murray; a notion backed up by the fact that none of the pieces credited to El’Zabar have strong melodies (a Murray characteristic). I think the balance (on this track and the whole LP) works very well overall, though, giving a sax and percussion duo album a lot of variety. For Sweet Meat El’Zabar plays conventional jazz traps with lots of cymbal ride and rhythmic work on the tuned drums while Murray’s ecstatic tenor runs build in intensity. This is possibly the most conventional duo piece, but executed with panache. Song For A New South Africa features a poly-rhythmic hand drum and ankle bells textual bed, and a fairly straight-forward rendering of the strong melody riff by Murray. They clearly liked this number because the duo repeated the piece on record three years later on A Sanctuary Within, and thirteen years later on Love Outside Of Dreams with very similar, if slightly more complex renderings.

1989 was a classic year for Murray, and his work made available in that twelve moths is remarkably wide. Albums released in that year included a James Brown-tribute funk project (Cold Sweat), a challenging piano-sax duo with Dave Burrell (Daybreak), an attempt at the jazz mainstream through the Columbia-released Ming’s Samba, four other jazz quartet albums under different group names and for different labels (I Want To Talk About You, Last Of The Hipmen, Lucky Four, The Fo’tet), and a WSQ collection of soul and funk covers (Rhythm and Blues). This one fits in the eclectic moment comfortably.

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