Hidden South African Jazz archive comes to life

Tonight at a public lecture in the City of York there will be a live performance of four South African jazz compositions found in the Ian Bruce Huntley archive. The "original" Ian Huntley recordings are shared here today in celebration of the great work that Jonathan Eato and students at the Department of Music at the University of York are doing in bringing Ian's archive alive in a most positive manner. Jazz legend Louis Moholo-Moholo will be there tonight, participating in the celebration.

Jonathan is talking to an interested audience about the Ian Bruce Huntley archive, showing some of the pictures, and to illustrate some of the material found in the audio archive, he

Ronnie Beer: Pic © Ian Huntley

has taken the trouble to transcribe the music and give "the dots" as he calls the sheet music, to four students who will be performing compositions by Tete Mbambisa (Leads Dwana); Ronnie Beer (Immediately); Ebrahim Kalil Shihab aka Chris Schilder (Look Up ) and Winston Mankunku Ngozi (Ekhaya).

In writing to me about the planned event tonight, and the process leading up to it, Jonathan had the following to say:

"Obviously this couldn't have happened without Ian's recordings. They (the students) will play them as part of the Merchant Adventurer talk .... And what's great is that Mpumi Moholo and Louis Moholo-Moholo will be there (although this is making the drummer both very nervous and very excited). I wonder if these compositions have ever been played outside South Africa?

"When they're tidied up I'll send the dots through for Ian (if that's of interest to him...). In listening to this music in detail so I could transcribe it for the students the interesting thing to me is that although improvisation over blues sequences are ubiquitous in jam sessions and gigs with impromptu bands, 'Immediately', 'Leads Dwana' and 'Look Up' all do this in unusual ways. Probing and exploring the form in one way or another.

"The head for 'Look Up' is thirteen bars (the usual 12 with a sort of one bar hiatus added to the end), whereas 'Immediately' has an extra two beats added to bars 4 and 12 - which also gives a total length of 13 bars but with the elongations split up and spread throughout the head, if that makes sense. 'Leads Dwana' is really doing my head in - it's heavily modal but I think I'm going to have to do more work on trying to understand how it works (or perhaps hope that Tete will explain it to me - assuming we can find a language that makes sense to both of us). Anyways it's a 32 bar modal head which covers the main harmonic centres of a typical jazz blues without using the form, or the bebop language prevalent in modern jazz blues.

"Of course these musicians were aware of Miles Davis' work etc. (hence 'Milestones' etc featuring so often in the IBH recordings) - and even though Davis recorded that in 1958, Herbie Hancock's 'Maiden Voyage' (the other great landmark of modal jazz) wasn't recorded until a year *after* Barney Rachabane, Ronnie Beer, Dennis Mpale, Tete Mbambisa, Max Dayimani and Sammy Maritz recorded 'Leads Dwana' in the studios at Thibault Square."



Jackie, Philly and Chris Schilder
Pic © Ian Huntley

 

I hope the musically technical stuff made sense to some of you, I just nod my head and happily accept that I can still love and appreciate the music without really understanding the intricacies of how it is constructed.

 
Ian's recordings are believed to be the first or earliest recordings of all of these compositions - and as Jonathan wonders aloud, have they even been played outside of South Africa - before tonight? By my amateur reckoning, I do believe, Ronnie Beer's "Immediately" has the greatest chance of having been  performed in Europe while Beer was there playing with Chris McGregor and the Blue Notes. 

In addition to the two versions of "Immediately" already shared on this blog (The Thibault Square recording at 7:55) here and (Room At the Top) a 15 min 46sec take here  - we are sharing two more versions. A 9:52 take, from another fine performance by Mpale, Rachabane, Mbambisa, Beer, Mgijima and Dayimani at the Room at the Top - at the end of which you can hear one of the band members commenting about Max Dayimani "hitting the drums". The second take is a 13min 55sec version, also performed by the same members at the Room At The Top in 1964.
 

"Look Up" features on the 1968 vinyl holy grail - Chris Schilder Quintet's "Spring". The 3:35 version also features on Volume 3 of the great Strut Next Stop Soweto Compilation issued in 2010. The 1966 version of Spring recorded by Ian in District Six, Cape Town stretches to close on eight minutes performed by a Schilder family trio.

Tete Mbambisa's  Leads Dwana also deserves to be heard internationally, and perhaps it has been already. Who knows? Here, the Jazz Disciples - with Sammy Maritz on bass - provide a swinging eight-minute rendition.

The recording of Ekhaya is unlikely to have been performed and is not widely known. The recording shared here today was not a public performance and is not of the best sound quality, but those who recognize its importance will forgive that.

The musicians playing the four compositions at the live gig tonight are: Will Edwards (drums), Twm Dylan (bass), Joe McGrail (piano), Ben Turner (alto saxophone).

In his talk, Jonathan will be outlining the thesis he puts forward in his essay contained in the book "Keeping Time". Thank you to all of you who have pre-ordered the book - and for your kind and encouraging words. For those of you who have not yet reserved your copy - it might be a good idea. Click on the picture of the book on the side-bar - it will give you an e-mail address. Send me an e-mail requesting a copy, and I will send you further details.
 

 

1. Look Up  (7:59) (Chris Schilder): Chris Schilder (piano), Philly Schilder (bass), Jackie Schilder (drums) - recorded at the Moses House, Smart Street, District Six ~1966.

 

2. Ekhaya (7:35) (Winston Mankunku Ngozi) Winston Mankunku Ngozi (tenor), Ebrahim Kalil Shihab (Chris Schilder) (Piano), Midge Pike (Bass), Selwyn Lissack (Drums). Recorded at a practice session at Selwyn Lissack's Bantry Bay garage studio - 1966.

 

3. Immediately (Ronnie Beer) ver a (9:52) Dennis Mpale (trumpet), Barney Rachabane (alto), Ronnie Beer (tenor), Tete Mbambisa (piano), Martin Mgijima (bass), Max Dayimani (drums). Performed at the Room at the Top, Strand Street, Cape Town 1964.

 

4. Immediately (Ronnie Beer) ver b (13:55) Dennis Mpale (trumpet), Barney Rachabane (alto), Ronnie Beer (tenor), Tete Mbambisa (piano), Martin Mgijima (bass), Max Dayimani (drums). Performed at the Room at the Top, Strand Street, Cape Town 1964.

 

5. Leads Dwana  (11:32) (Tete Mbambisa) Dennis Mpale (trumpet), Barney Rachabane (alto), Ronnie Beer (tenor), Tete Mbambisa (piano), Martin Mgijima (bass), Max Dayimani (drums). Performed at the Room at the Top, Strand Street, Cape Town 1964.

 

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Free Jazz Experiments at Selwyn's Room (1966)

Selwyn Lissack - back in the day.
Picture by Ian Bruce Huntley

In a 1985 interview Sheila Wallis asks Winston Mankunku Ngozi about the mid 1960s: "Do you remember Selwyn Lissack? He said you used to have great jam sessions together at a house in Bantry Bay". Winston: "Ooh boy, we had a quartet, a beautiful group, those guys were really together. Selwyn on drums, Chris Schilder, Midge Pike, and at times with Merton Barrow. We would rehearse the whole night, play, play, play and play. We were doing the Art Centre then. I met a friend who was really into music - Ian Huntley. He had a lot of records, a photographer, a beautiful guy, he was in love with musicians. He bought me another saxophone."  (April 1985 edition of 'Think Jazz').

In talking to Selwyn Lissack this week, he emphasised the important and generous role played by Ian: "Ian, played a very important part in my comprehension of how to approach playing Jazz. I would go to Ian’s flat to listen to the tapes after a concert. They say the tapes never lie and this was a perfect way to learn and understand the music of that time." (see below for more).

Another gift that Ian gave to us all was to keep and preserve these recordings and share them with us now. In this previously unreleased fascinating ninety-minute experimental session Chris Schilder and Selwyn Lissack stand-out most often in their technically tight exploratory forays. Winston Manunku delights and surprises more in the second half.

 

In listening for the first time I had the experience of being seized in recognising snippets of music, and then being taken for a compelling diversionary ride, gripped in waiting to hear what comes next, and then occasionlly being brought back to familiar territory that I could not quite identify. The more I listen to these recordings the more I get to know and appreciate them as a product of talented jazz musicians at the top of their game.

 

Selwyn Lissack left South Africa in 1966, not long after these recordings were made. In 1969 after a three-year sojourn in England he recorded his only album as leader: "Friendship Next of Kin" with Mongezi Feza (trumpet), Harry Miller (bass), Mike Osborn (alto sax), Kenneth Terroade (tenor sax), Earl Freeman (bass and piano), and Louis Moholo (additional percussion). After contributing to another ground-breaking free jazz album in 1970, Lissack quit music, disgusted at feeling ripped off. Read more here. Lissack re-mastered and re-issued "Friendship Next of Kin" in 2006 - look out for it, it is becoming difficult to find again. It is not for nothing that Lissack was rated in a list of a top ten from the free jazz underground.

 

Ever pushing boundaries Lissack teamed up in a five-year collaborative relationship with Salvador Dali in the 1970s to produce ten holographic works of art. Watch a video of Lissack describing what they did here. Visit Selwyn Lissack's own website here.

 

Very close friends at the time, Selwyn and Ian recently re-connected via telephone - Selwyn in Tucson, Arizona, and Ian in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. I invited Selwyn to share a few words on his recollections of those times.

"In the early 1950’s it was not yet possible, to pursue a Jazz musical career, through the local school curriculum, in South Africa. Some schools could teach the basic classical fundamentals of music. It was difficult to find a teacher who enjoyed and under-stood the intricacy of Jazz music.

"Another set back was, as I had chosen the drums as an instrument, it was nearly impossible to find a space to practice, in a suburban area.

"In order to play without disturbing anyone, I would rent an office space in the city of Cape Town and soundproof the walls and ceiling. After some years of this activity, I was able to find a garage close to my home, where many, many hours were spent in the pursuit of learning how to play, Jazz music.   

 

"Chris, Midge and Winston would usually come to ‘Selwyn’s room’ to rehearse, for the Sunday concerts at the Art Center on the Green Point common. It was at this venue that Ian Huntley recorded a lot of the music that has been preserved to this day.

"Ian, played a very important part in my comprehension of how to approach playing Jazz. I would go to Ian’s flat, to listen to the tapes, after a concert. They say the tapes never lie and this was a perfect way to learn and understand the music of that time.  

 

"I had a choice selection of the best east-coast jazz musicians, to study and learn from.

"Learning to play perfect straight ahead time was hard enough but my ultimate goal was to find a different and original approach to playing time. Like a pulse. This was eventually was achieved, in future recordings, 'Friendship Next of Kin' and the 'Sun Is Coming Up.'

"All the time that was dedicated to ‘Selwyn's Room’ and other urban  recordings, is an important historical documentation, of the legacy of Ian’s love and devotion to the jazz world and the musicians of Cape Town.

"

I would like to thank him, for always being there to catch the moment, making it possible for me to advance and perfect my concept of playing Jazz."

Ian is hoping to make contact with Chris Schilder (Ebrahim Kalil Shihab) again too. In searching the web, I did manage to find this March 2012 video clip of the master still at work! He released a solo piano CD in 2010 and it appears to be already sold out. It is possible download it from itunes here and Amazon here, and for a very reasonable price from Look and Listen here.

 

Experiments At Selwyn's Room - Part One

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If you have not yet listened to the earlier postings from Ian’s archive, you can find them here:

1. Winston Mankunku gem 

2. Love for Free: Hidden South African Jazz Archive revealed

3. The Blue Notes: A Journey of Faith

4. Chris McGregor Quintet Live in Geneva

5. Becoming Free In Cape Town

6. Last Night at the Room At The Top: Dyani and Pukwana

7. Kippie Moeketsi: The album he never made

8. Mankunku and Goldberg Go Free In Cape Town