More Mankunku from Ian Bruce Huntley's archive

Winston Mankunku Ngozi - Morris Goldberg in background. Pic: Ian Bruce Huntley

It is a matter of a month or two before Electric Jive visitors will have full open access to the more than 56 hours of music recorded by Ian Bruce Huntley - and also be able to see many of the pictures featured in "Keeping Time", the limited edition book that will become available later this month.

The books, printed in Hong Kong, were loaded on a ship two days ago and are expected in the UK on 2nd December, and in Durban on 24th November. Siemon Allen in the USA will be receiving 50 copies via courier this week (holding thumbs Siemon).  There are 500 copies printed - we will soon provide details on costs and ordering.

The photo of Winston Mankunku Ngozi you see featured above is the only one in Ian's book that has not been digitally restored - while the scratching is particularly bad, it is also a kind of a nod from Siemon Allen (who put the book's great layout together) to the wonderful mood of the picture, and also to Cedric Nunn - who put many many hours into digitally repairing all the other images featured.

Keeping Time contains a substantial and fascinating essay by Jonathan Eato, the University of York-based composer and musician who worked with Bra Tete Mbambisa in releasing his solo piano work, "Black Heroes".

Jonathan describes in his essay how Ian set up the recording equipment on stages - when there was electricity available.

"Huntley would set up four microphones and use their proximity to the instruments to create a balanced ‘mix’. Relatively few of the photographs show Huntley’s microphone placement, but listening to the recordings one is struck by the clarity of the sound. As the pianos used in the various venues were all uprights, Huntley would place one microphone behind the instrument to pick up sound directly from the soundboard, with a second microphone placed near the drums. Huntley also reports experimenting with a piece of foam that had a hole cut in the middle to hold his third microphone. This enabled the microphone to be wedged into the bridge of the bass, accounting for the high quality bass response on the recordings (a level of fidelity which was probably not available to either the musicians or audiences at the time of the performance). Another of Huntley’s techniques was to put the fourth microphone inside a lampshade, which then acted as an improvised parabolic reflector to gather the overall sound of the horns. Once the microphones were in place, Huntley would be free to leave the tape running – until the tape ran out at least – whilst he attended to his camerawork." 

Jonathan then goes on to describe how the musicians would gather in Ian's flat to carefully listen to their recordings, coming to one of many interesting conclusions:

"Although one can only speculate at this point, it is not inconceivable that Huntley’s recordings were instrumental in contributing to the practice of modern jazz in South Africa. A pianist enabled to hear a walking bass line with clarity – even if not in the immediacy of performance – might well be further encouraged to explore the rootless left hand voicings they heard on records by Bud Powell, Bill Evans and others pioneering the practice in the U.S."

In keeping with the spirit of Ian's work, Jonathan's full essay will become available as an open access document - but not before the book comes out.

So - in all-round celebration, herewith nearly two hours (240mb) of some more gems from the archive - which Ian's records say were recorded at the Art Centre on 29th September 1966.

Art Centre (September 1966)

Tape 33
11 tracks at 1:54:21
Art Centre, Green Point Common, Cape Town.

Winston Mankunku Ngozi (tenor), Chris Schilder (piano), Midge Pike¹ (bass), Selwyn Lissack (drums), unidentified² (trumpet), Merton Barrow (vibes)³, Morris Goldberg⁴ (tenor).

1. Blues for Gary Peacock (7:14)

2. Summertime (George Gershwin) (11:16)
3. Woody ‘n’ You (Dizzy Gillespie) (8:54)
4. Nardis (Miles Davis) (7:13)²
5. Majong (Wayne Shorter) (13:40)
6. Love for Sale (Cole Porter) (16:02)
7. Well You Needn’t (Monk) (15:11)
8. Bessies Blues (John Coltrane) (8:42)
9. You Would Be So Nice To Come Home To (Cole Porter) [bass solo¹] (4:15)
10. Misty (Erroll Garner) (11:04)
11. Groovy Blues (10:46)^{3 & 4}

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Sunday Night at the Troubadour - Cape Town (1965)

Maurice Gawronsky at University of Cape Town 1973. Pic Ian Bruce Huntley

The endurance of three of the artists featured in this soulful session recorded by Ian Bruce Huntley in 1965 just has to be celebrated. In little over two weeks’ time Ebrahim Khalil Shihab (formerly Chris Schilder) will be taking his rightful place, centre stage at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

I am truly struck by the passage of forty eight years in being able to share this previously unreleased quartet recording. After all this time Maurice Gawronsky tells me matter-of-fact that he just can’t stop drumming.  In fact, he has gig lined up with Shihab over the eight-days jazz festival period. And Morris Goldberg, well he just continues to amaze me.

The only member of this quartet who is no longer with us is Bob Tizzard, who was at home both on bass and trombone – having played trombone on the legendary 1963 recording: Jazz The African sound. Bob’s son Paul is a drummer, and continues to run the piano tuning business that his father started in Cape Town.

The Troubadour Restaurant in Breda Street, Gardens was owned by Maurice Gawronsky until he sold it in 1967. Maurice recalls during the week it was more of a folk music venue where patrons would pay twenty five cents for entrance and a bottomless cup of coffee. Live jazz would take place on Sunday evenings.

Judging from this recording, The Troubadour was a relaxed place to spend a Sunday evening listening to fine music. I asked Maurice how often it was possible for groups to rehearse together, given that many of the musicians had day jobs too. “When there were big band gigs coming up, we would get together for a rehearsal or two, but for a quartet playing standards, we just fell into the groove on the night – no rehearsals, we knew each other well enough”.

I invite you to sit back, relax and be transported back to an unhurried 87 minutes of fine jazz making its way out of the Troubadour Restaurant into the Cape Town night. If you happen to recognise the last two tracks, please leave a comment and tell us what you think they might be.

This blog has a series of posts that feature the music recorded by Ian Bruce Huntley in Cape Town in the 1960s and early 70s. Use the search function (right hand side bar near the top). Look for IBH Jazz Archive.

Morris Goldberg (Saxophone); Chris Schilder (Piano); Bob Tizzard (Bass); Maurice Gawronsky (Drums).

1.    All of you (19:47)

2.    Spanish Thing (Morris Goldberg) (14:34)

3.    If I were a Bell (12:48)

4.    Now's the Time (Charlie Parker)  (10:16)

5.    Four (Miles Davis) (13:30)

6.    Unidentified (16:49)

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Mankunku and Goldberg Go Free in Cape Town



Morris Goldberg, Chris Schilder and Midge Pike at the Art Centre, Cape Town  (1966).
Pic by Ian Bruce Huntley

Best wishes to you from us here at Electric Jive for 2013. Before sharing another previously unheard gem from the Ian Bruce Huntley jazz archive, an update on Electric Jive for the year ahead.
 

When comparing burn-out symptoms at the end of 2012, the four of us who run this blog agreed that something had to change. In addition to our own working lives we have other voluntary projects besides Electric Jive that we are also committed to. So, we plan to slow down and publish less frequently this year. We are also more likely to mix up the post format, length, and content. Each contributor will have a two-week slot in which at least one post will be shared. Sometimes we may post more often within that two-week slot than in other times. All of us are committed to keeping this blog going for as long as our energies enable us to.

We kick of this year with an eighth instalment from the Ian Huntley Jazz archive. Ian has often pointed out to me that ‘free jazz’ was a lot more popular amongst South Africa’s 1960s jazz musicians than we realise.

My friend Max Annas reckons that much of the written history of jazz in South Africa has been shaped largely by the evidence of relatively few studio recordings. He agrees with Ian in pointing out that the narrative of jazz history in South Africa has little to say of the enthusiastic embrace by  important musicians of the Free Jazz movement.

There is still quite a bit of ‘free jazz’ to share from Ian’s archive, including a number of private sessions of “Experiments in Selwyn’s Garage”, with Winston Mankunku Ngozi and Chris Schilder  mixing their own musical chemistry. There are also a number of sessions at the Art Centre in particular which are most certainly ‘free’ in character. Perhaps Cape Town audiences were more receptive and just as enthusiastic in wanting to break with convention at that time? 

Today’s session was recorded at The Art Centre on 20^th August 1966. While a bop idiom provides  lyrical foundation, and there is a meter that keeps the likes of me interested, huge spaces are created for the musicians to express their own voice in the moment. The opening track “Free Thing” features fairly frequently on Ian’s tapes. The second track “Ole” is the Coltrane composition that featured on the introductory post to this archive. The outstanding third track “Poor” was previously unknown to me and showcases Mankunku and Goldberg taking their instruments to new places. Does anyone recognise "Poor"? Can you tell us more about it?

 In addition to having Morris Goldberg and Winston Mankunku Ngozi to hand on saxophones, there is a double-up in having Midge Pike and Philly Schilder on double-bass. Chris Schilder’s brilliance shines through on piano, while Selwyn Lissack's drumming is clearly happy ‘out there’ in the experiment.

Please – if any of you has anything you could add by way of information or have a reaction to this music, we would very much welcome a few words in the comments section below.

 

Mankunku and Goldberg Go Free in Cape Town

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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

Becoming Free In Cape Town (1967)

The quality of both the music and the audio reproduction on tape 39 of Ian Huntley's reel-to-reel recordings is something quite special. From the grooving twelve-bar blues of 'Hip Twitch' via "Good News" (the same composition made famous a few years later by Johnny Dyani and Dollar Brand) through to the free-jazz explorations in 'Always', this 83-minute eight-tune live set at The Art Centre in 1967 has four exceptional Cape Town musicians becoming more than the sum of their parts. It really is a pleasure to be able to share this previously unreleased recording with you.

Midge Pike
Pic: Ian Bruce Huntley

While I have billed this as 'The Morris Goldberg Quartet', I am not certain they were introduced in this way on the night. The original tape does have some low-res recording of Morris Goldberg in a thick 'Safrican' accent introducing one or two of the songs, including the second untitled number which he and Chris Schilder co-wrote.

Sensitively led by Goldberg on saxophone, Chris Schilder's playing on Richard Rodgers' 'Spring is Here' has beautiful contemplative echoes of the evocative1959 Bill Evans Trio recording of the same classic song - you can check out the Evans version here. Ian Huntley recalls Chris Schilder going through an intense phase of listening to Bill Evans. The same certainly applied to Midge Pike with respect to Scott LeFaro on bass. This particular recording puts me in a beautiful 'place', and even if Spring is not yet here, I believe in it.

I sometimes wonder how much the choice of playlist, the mood and interpretation of great songs like these were a conscious, talked through, response of these young musicians to the context that was Cape Town and South Africa in 1967? Or, at another level, did they choose to play what inspired them and just felt good or right? Ian Huntley recalls most of the musicians being very much focussed on producing good music. While growing apartheid oppression did put significant obstacles in the way of their musical goals, and specificaly on the lives of those musicians who were not classified as "European / White", their unity in music gave them the persistence to find ways of working around these barriers.

Ian recalls Chris Schilder becoming very agitated when new laws were promulgated making it nearly impossible for mixed bands to play for mixed audiences. "Chris got very upset and swore on the spot that he would never play for an all-white audience again, but he did eventualy relent on ocassions, with the support of musicians and some owners of venues who worked their own ways to bend the rules wherever possible. There were a number of venues that continued to enable mixed audiences, including the Zambezi in District Six, until the bulldozers knocked that down.

"Winston Mankunku was another musician who at times expressed great agitation at what apartheid was doing, and he would take it out in his performances with his screams, wails and squawks. There were few other viable avenues for protest at the time, they were focussed on their music and the most immediate choice was either to stay, or to go (leave the country)." Midge Pike (1973), Selwyn Lissack and Morris Goldberg did leave the country. Chris Schilder did not. Morris Goldberg returns often, most recently playing the 2012 Grahamstown Festival.

Selwyn Lissack provides a performance on these eight numbers that herald him as the world-class free-jazz drummer he became known for after he left South Africa. Check his monster solo out on track four.

Morris Goldberg and Chris Schilder at The Art Centre (1966)
Pic: Ian Bruce Huntley

If you have not yet acquainted yourself with Morris Goldberg's later recordings, do yourself the favour and visit the following postings on Electric Jive here and here. If you have missed the previous shares from the Ian Huntley Jazz Archive thread, you can find them here (Blue Notes) and here (Intro samples) and here (Mankunku).

Multiple demands this month limit the time I can spend researching and adding further info to do justice to this splendid recording. If anyone has further info, or comments, please do share them with us. I am collecting and collating as much historical information for a book a few of us are planning.

Morris Goldberg (saxophone), Chris Schilder (Piano), Midge Pike (bass), Selwyn Lissack (drums). Recorded live by Ian Bruce Huntley in stereo on a Tandberg Six reel-to-reel recorder with four microphones on stage.

1. Hip Twitch (7:33)
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2. Untitled (8:59)
Mediafire here    Rapidshare here
3. Good News (8:43)
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4. Unknown title (anyone recognise it?) 16:09
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5. Big George (10:07)
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6. Blue Med (11:01)
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7. Spring is Here (8:35)
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8. Always (12:34)
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Love for Free: Hidden South African jazz archive revealed

Chris Schilder aka Ebrahim Kalil Shihab at the Zambezi Restaurant,
Hanover Street, District Six, 1965. Picture by Ian Bruce Huntley

The recorded store of South Africa’s jazz heritage just got a little bit bigger than anybody realised. If you could ask just about any jazz musician who played in Cape Town during the mid 1960s, all would remember Ian Bruce Huntley with an affectionate smile. Ian was this lovable ‘jazz fanatic’ who would be on stage setting up recording microphones from his Tandberg 6 reel-to-reel recorder at many of the live jazz gigs that were played between 1964 and 1966 and then again from 1968 to 1972. Now and then he would also be taking pictures with his Leica M3.

Ian Bruce Huntley in 1967

After more than forty-five years of privately preserving these reel-to-reel recordings, Ian has just concluded a non-profit “public good” agreement that, amongst other things, gives Electric Jive exclusive permission to archive and share this wealth of historically important and amazing music. A new adventure is in the planning stages, and there are some wonderful surprises ahead. I am starting to seek out and have discussions with some good and helpful people, to plot a path which results in a companion book of photos, articles and a full discography of the history that is stored on those reel-to-reel tapes.

Today’s posting serves to announce a jazz musical heritage and excitement which we shall be unpacking on Electric Jive once a month for many months to come. In the medium-term, I am hoping to set up a searchable sub-page archive on Electric Jive to give expression to the agreement whose purpose is “to honour the musicians and their music, to promote the recognition that they are due, and to stimulate wider public interest in and appreciation of this heritage. We do not seek profit or commercial gain in making these recordings available.”

My recent spare time has been focussed on organising and digitising and backing up recordings very few people knew existed. Acutely aware of my own deficits in jazz and musical knowledge I am just excited to keep learning further, and to be able to start sharing this important heritage more widely.

The mid 1960s was an important period of transition, and in many respects Ian’s recordings mirror how the Cape Town jazz scene absorbed, processed and re-packaged that context. While much of the rest of Africa was euphorically bathing in the inception of decolonization, the iron grip of apartheid was really beginning to take hold in South Africa. Globally, the Cold War began to make pawns of countries.

Tete Mbambisa and Psych Big T Ntsele
Pic by Ian Bruce Huntley

In the United States jazz musicians of the African diaspora celebrated Africa’s newly found freedoms, but most walked a careful line on the side of the American Empire’s project of global democratization. A whole new era of musical dialogue between Africa and America was begun.
While many Africans were charting new paths and identities, there was a diverse group of Cape Town-based South African jazz musicians improvising in finding their own meaning and inspiration, listening intently to the likes of Coltrane, Davis, Monk, Mingus, Blakey and a host of other bop musicians.

Robin D.G. Kelley sums the period up well in his recent book: “Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times” -: “African musicians did not exist to bring something ancient to African American modernism; rather, they were both creating modern music, drawing on the entire diaspora as well as the world, to do so. Indeed, perhaps with the growth of trans-Atlantic collaborations and dissemination of culture, we can no longer speak so confidently about jazz as an American art form, or render African Jazz musicians outside the pale of the music’s history. And we certainly need to go beyond listening to non-American artists for ways they incorporate “their culture” into jazz – whether we’re talking about South African or Israeli jazz musicians. Jazz reveals that, even in the search for tradition, its chains do not always bind us, and the most powerful map of the New World is in the imagination.

While he is not a musician, Ian Bruce Huntley has made a significant and until now, unrecognised contribution in recording and preserving an extremely valuable, important and invigorating legacy. Despite attentions of South Africa’s State security apparatus, it was still possible in the mid 60s for racially mixed bands to perform at select public places such as the Zambezi Restaurant in Hanover Street, District Six, The Ambassador’s Jazz Club In Woodstock, The Vortex in Upper Long Street, The Art Centre, Kings Hotel and the Grand Prix Restaurant in Sea Point, The Room At The Top. All of these venues hosted an ebb and flow of South African jazz musicians – those that stayed and those that left the country and returned occasionally.

Ian’s recordings were always made with the permission and blessing of the musicians concerned. Often, after gigs, he would head back with band members to his flat in Main Road, Mowbray, and play it all back to them, way into the early hours. Ian’s Xhosa friends gave him the name “Ka-Nini”(Gwanini?), literally meaning ‘of the night’ – or, someone who comes alive at night.

Friends saying goodbye to Ian who had to leave Cape Town in February 1967: Left to Right - top: Harold Schlensog; Peter Buchanan; Paddy Ewer; Margaret Schlensog; Selwyn Lissack; Ian Huntley; Willie Nete; Themba Matola; Martin Ngijima (with pipe); Front: left to right: Roger Khoza; Howard Sassman; Chris Schilder; Winston Mankunku Ngozi.

In 1967 Ian was suddenly transferred out of Cape Town via somewhat mysterious instructions sent to the government map-making office where he worked. At around the same time he was also evicted from his flat because he was allowing black friends to sleep over there. Ian has many stories to tell, and I look forward to sharing some of these, and his recordings and photos, on this blog.

For today’s post I have selected an introductory sample of single tracks from some of the tapes I have digitised so far. In addition to making many of his own recordings, Ian also collected an impressive legacy of local and international jazz recordings. Some of the recordings are of excellent quality and leave me in wonder of how this amateur enthusiast with minimal equipment in the 1960s was able to achieve this. Some of the tapes have not lasted as well, while the levels in others are not ideal. Once you start listening, I am sure you will agree that the minor blemishes pale into insignificance.

Kippie Moeketsi, Victor Ntoni and Dani Ndlovu - Langa Community Centre 1971
Picture by Ian Bruce Huntley

I have to start with a ten-minute Kippie Moeketsi rendition of Body and Soul that just blows me away. Back in Cape Town in 1971, Ian was persuaded by friends to part with fifty rands to pay for an airticket to get Kippie Moeketsi to come down from Johannesburg and play a gig. When Ian and the band picked Kippie up at the airport in his Renault 4L, Kippie had arrived without an instrument. Ian persuaded his friends Lawrence and Sherlaine Koonen at The Record Centre to give him a loan, and bought Kippie a brand new Selmer Mark 6 alto saxophone. This concert involved Kippie Moeketsi and  Danyi Ndlovu on saxophones, a really top-of-his-game Victor Ntoni on bass and Nelson Magwaza on drums.

Body and Soul: Mediafire here Rapidshare here

Two more recordings at the Art Centre during 1966, not long before Winston Mankunku Ngozi was to catapault to national fame as 1967 Jazzman of the year for his Yakhal’ Nkomo.

First up Winston “Mankunku” Ngozi (tenor saxophone), Chris Schilder (piano), Phil Schilder (bass), Monty Weber (drums) – Love for Sale. Mediafire here Rapidshare here

Next is a striking recording of a Coltrane composition, “Ole” made at The Art Centre on 20^th August 1966: Morris Goldberg (alto saxophone); Winston Ngozi (tenor saxophone); Chris Schilder (piano); Midge Pike (bass); Philly Schilder (bass); Selwyn Lissack (drums). At nearly 18 minutes long, your patience through the gathering free introduction will be rewarded.

"Ole" - Mediafire here Rapidshare here

Ronnie Beer and Tete Mbambisa
Pic: Ian Bruce Huntley

Going back further in time at The Room At The Top in 1964 we uncover a whole lot of gems, including an 18-minute rendition of “Arabia” featuring Dennis Mpale (trumpet);  Dudu Pukwana (Alto sax);  Ronnie Beer (tenor sax); Tete Mbambisa (piano); Martin Ngijima (bass); Max Dayimani (drums).

Arabia: Mediafire here Rapidshare here

Martin Ngijima. Pic by Ian Bruce Huntley

 The final track I share with you today is of Chris McGregor and the Blue Notes playing Mingus’ Boogie Stop Shuffle at Wits University on 22^nd March 1963. The recording was made by Professor John Blacking. Ian just happened to transcribe this rarity onto reel-to-reel. The band: Chris McGregor (Piano); Elijah Nkwanyana - trumpet (and also a little baritone sax); Dudu Pukwana – (alto saxophone); Martin Ngijima (bass); we are not certain of the drummer, but believe it to be Early Mabuza. The tape of the full concert will become available in due course.

Boogie Stop Shuffle: Mediafire here Rapidshare here

I look forward to sharing more with you next month. Cheers!