Today we feature the very first “solo” long playing record by the legendary saxophonist, composer, producer and, later, executive for Gallo records — West Nkosi — a major figure in the South African recording industry for more than three decades.
As a member of the famed Makhona Tsohle Band in the early 1960s, Nkosi help develop the sound of sax jive and subsequently the style of
mbaqanga. As a producer he signed and recorded classic groups like Ladysmith Black Mambazo as well as Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens.
Jump and Jive with West Nkosi, completes what I like to call the early Mavuthela trilogy — the other two albums being
Meet the Mahotella Queens (1966) and
Let’s Move with the Makhona Tsohle Band (1967), both on the Motella label.
Issued in 1967 on Gallo’s USA label,
Jump and Jive does appear to be Nkosi’s first LP record. Though, like the other Mavuthela releases mentioned above, it is a compilation of material previously issued on 78 rpm. I suspect the recordings here range in date from around 1964 to 1967. The cover image of Nksoi has been featured on a number of websites, but remarkably, the source of that image, the original album itself, has not.
In preparing this post it was more than evident to me that no one could be more qualified to talk about Nkosi that my colleague Nick Lotay, who has covered the artist extensively in a range of posts first at Matsuli and now here at Electric Jive.
For this post, Nick has kindly allowed me to sample his various texts in order to string together a narrative for Nkosi. Nick, I am indebted, many thanks!
In many ways Nick’s 2009 post
Jive Motella! at
Matsuli is for me the gold standard for well-researched, informative blogging and it is from his essay that we open the West Nkosi narrative:
“The vital core of Mavuthela’s roster arose as amateur musicians during the
mid-1950s, and the story begins with Joseph Makwela. [...]
At the age of 16, Makwela moved to
Pretoria on the lookout for work. He eventually became a domestic worker in a
white suburb, and encountered by chance another gardener called Lucky Monama.
[...]
Monama got on well with Makwela and soon
they became firm friends, learning that they worked only a short distance from
each other. During an off-hour at the end of the week, they spotted a
pennywhistler performing at a sports ground, Johannes Hlongwane. Hlongwane was
born in 1940 in eMathafeni, just outside Nelspruit. At the age of 16, after
leaving school, the music-loving Hlongwane was sent to live with his
grandfather in Pretoria to find work. After he gained enough money to buy a pennywhistle
[…]
Hlongwane began to make a name for himself on the streets of Pretoria by
performing outside bus stations, at bus stops, and outside stadiums, inspired by
his idol Spokes Mashiyane. After seeing the animated Hlongwane, Makwela and
Monama bought their own pennywhistles and sought harmony advice from him, in
awe of his precision music playing (and the high amount of money that he had
garnered from onlookers). Shortly afterwards, the three lads formed The
Pretoria Tower Boys. Three more members were soon added and Makwela replaced
his whistle with a guitar.
The
[PT] Boys would, on occasion, come upon a rival pennywhistle group led by
guitarist Marks Mankwane. The Boys would often marvel at his meticulous and
rhythmic tunes and Hlongwane noted to himself that Mankwane was a very talented
musician to look out for. […]
By
the start of the 1960s, each member wanted to try their luck as professional
musicians. Hlongwane decided to change his name to West Nkosi. Nkosi and Monama
were the first: they moved from Pretoria to Alexandra in late 1960, where Nkosi
again played pennywhistle tunes on the streets – Monama backed him up on guitar
– enthusiastically waiting to be spotted. A talent scouting expedition from [Gallo]
saw the two boys moving to Johannesburg and Nkosi joining Gallo’s kwela studio
group: Spokes Mashiyane & His All-Star Flutes. However, [Nkosi’s] time with
them was brief, as he wanted to develop his own career as an individual
performer.
Monama
decided to remain at Gallo as a session musician and permanently abandoned his
pennywhistle, opting to become a rhythm guitarist. Nkosi once again moved on,
ending up joining another studio group called the Bon Accord Boys. The fame
that they acquired affected Nkosi deeply, who wanted a reputation as a
brilliant soloist.
This
saw a move back to Jo’burg’s city centre in 1962 and back at the famed Gallo
studios, this time with Joseph Makwela, for a second try. The two lads ended up
performing as a duo outside the legendary building. They had at this point
switched instruments: Nkosi replaced his pennywhistle with a saxophone after
realizing that the pennywhistle had quickly gone out of fashion, and Makwela […]
became the first black electric bass player in South Africa. Reggie Msomi was
sufficiently pleased by the performances, having seen them on his way in and
out of the Gallo studios.
The
two men were recruited by Msomi into his stellar marabi line-up the Hollywood
Jazz Band [led by Msomi] and were subsequently reunited with Lucky Monama –
who, at this point, was already the rhythm guitarist in the band. Msomi was
impressed with Nkosi, and gave the performer a second role at Gallo as a solo
artist. Nkosi’s professional career effectively began. Some minor success
occurred before Msomi heard that Gallo was not showing good profits in their
black music production. He decided to take the new lineup of the Jazz Band on a
tour, this time to up north to Rhodesia, hoping that he would gain decent
revenue from the live appearances and recordings of the band for the company. […]
The
company took Msomi’s unexpected departure as an opportunity to replace him.
They managed to entice the massively successful Rupert Bopape [from EMI] and
Mavuthela was born. Msomi was furious at Gallo replacing him behind his back,
but he was persuaded by management to remain at the company with promises to
become a possible co-producer […] in the new Mavuthela subsidiary.
When
West Nkosi, Joseph Makwela and Lucky Monama finally returned to Gallo in the middle
of 1964, they found that, in the re-organisation of the company, Bopape had
fired most of the old musicians. One of the new recruits to the new Mavuthela
roster was none other than Marks Mankwane, who had been […] at Troubadour
Records […].
West
Nkosi began pleading with Bopape to let him record as a solo artist on the new
Mavuthela roster, just as he had done under Msomi, but Bopape – needing new
musicians and having received word from Msomi that Nkosi was one musician from
the old Gallo unit that didn’t deserve to be fired – instead put him in a group
of backing saxophonists (the four horn blowers in the foreground during Mavuthela’s
infancy were Shadrack Piliso, Elijah Nkwanyana, Zeph Nkabinde, and Christopher
Songxaka) and started churning out the necessary vocal/sax jive output he had
done at EMI.
The
first few Mavuthela recordings were simple instrumental sax jives with a ‘call
and response’ nomenclature. Depending on the pseudonym, one of the saxophonists
would call with his instrument. He would be responded with a team of saxophones
played by the other horn blowers on the early roster – with all important accompaniments
from Mavuthela’s house band: Mankwane’s high-pitched electric guitar skills,
Makwela on his deeply-plucked bass, Monama on acoustic rhythm guitar, and Wilfred
Mosebi on brushed drums. The music itself built heavily on the mbaqanga […]
sound. The deep electric bass pulsation and concentrated uptempo electric
guitar was an irresistible complementation and as such held the entire melody
together.
West
Nkosi asked Bopape if it was possible to audition now that Mavuthela was
up-and-running. Bopape agreed. Nkosi, together with Mankwane, Makwela, Monama
and Mosebi, performed a sax jive tune that he had composed some months prior.
Bopape was impressed by this performance, and as a result, Nkosi was made a solo
act – under the name West Nkosi and His Alto Sax – and recorded his first tune:
“Orlando Train”, the song he had performed in his audition.
Bopape
formally organised the Mavuthela house band and later penned the Sesotho name
‘Makhona Tsohle Band’ (The Band That Can Do Anything) in reference to the
skills of his musicians. Bopape organised for the band to perform at local
gatherings to promote the Mavuthela division, which began its fruitful
productive career releasing its product on the existing “Gallo-USA” and “Gallo
New Sound” labels, and the newly-formed “Motella” label. The instrumentalists
were very well-received with their new “electric jive” sound and success was to follow.
A
huge slice of the black public became fairly fanatical about this new musical
craze and the “Motella” name soon gained currency. The easygoing Marks Mankwane
was to become a key musical arranger, whilst the more open and enthusiastic
West Nkosi found a mentor in Bopape. Bopape educated Nkosi, an aspiring
producer, on the rigid studio system, and gave Nkosi a stable role as a solo
performer. Nkosi was happy in his permanent position of employment in
Johannesburg, not least because it gave him a chance to make a name for himself
and at the same time remain with his beloved wife Thami and newborn baby."
"The rest of the 1970s saw some
more membership changes, and promotions – Mankwane and Nkosi were now
producers, as was Lucky Monama (Monama was now also Mavuthela’s Public
Relations officer). Makhona Tsohle subsequently disbanded around 1979 due to
producer responsibilities, though did carry on as session musicians, reuniting
in 1983 for their own (highly successful) television show, Mathaka (Friends)
[…]."
"Nkosi’s headstrong
attitude to life thrust him further and further into the spotlight as time went
on [...]. When the order came from Gallo’s management to
increase production, Nkosi was one of the first to be honoured by Bopape with a
producing role in 1972.
Nkosi was the ultimate champ and all-round good guy in front of Bopape, the big boss of the
studio. But privately, one might say West thought Bopape was ill-suited to the
music business: in an interview many years after Bopape’s retirement, Nkosi
spoke about sitting down with his boss in the rehearsal rooms at Gallo and
watching artist after artist audition for a contract. Though Nkosi could feel
the potential in these musicians and singers, Bopape was the boss and had to
have the final say – and often turned down the ones who Nkosi privately felt
had the talent to prosper. His promotion to producer gave him the chance to
have his decisions adhered to – and, in many cases, spotlight a talented act
that, under Bopape, would never have shone.
When West Nkosi came to Durban to search for a local male group whose cothoza
mfana vocal styling had captivated everyone listening to Radio Zulu, he
struck gold. He brought Ladysmith Black Mambazo in a Gallo minibus to the
Johannesburg studios, where welcome faces and pats on the back greeted them.
All except for Rupert Bopape, of course! Joseph Shabalala, the enigmatic
founder and leader of the group, recalled in a late 1990s interview that Bopape
was hesitant of signing the then-seven members to Gallo-Mavuthela. “He was
hesitating about it,” remembered Shabalala. “He said, ‘there are groups like
the King Star Brothers… we record them and black people don’t buy their music!
It’ll be the same thing for these guys!’” West Nkosi insisted that these guys
were so much more talented than any of the others. The hesitation continued for
a while – but luckily, Bopape’s wife Irene Mawela happened to be in the studios
that day and asked who these singers were. When told of the group’s name, she
immediately recognised them from the constant Radio Zulu airplay – and insisted
that they be signed up. West noted her approval and Bopape duly agreed.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo began recording in August 1972 and, by the end of the
decade, had become the biggest selling group in the country’s history.
Alongside producing several more immensely popular acts, West Nkosi continued
recording instrumental hits too: in the line-up West Nkosi Nabashokobezi (which
included guitarist Marubini Jagome, bassist Jabu Zulu and drummer Eddie
Ndzeru), he focused mainly on peppy sax jive tunes and recording many, many
numbers in the ‘mabone’ series. With his longtime musical acquaintances in the
Makgona Tsohle Band (also credited as the Makhona Zonke Band on several 1970s
records), Nkosi also did sax jive but that bit more extravagantly, as well as
later branching out into bump jive and soul."
"In 1973, the studio
group West Nkosi Nabashokobezi worked up a sensational mbaqanga beat that just
had to be recorded. Released on the FGB Producers label in 1973, the hit single
“Two Mabone” (two car headlights) defined that alignment with the US. The
single became a huge hit within South Africa, quickly attaining gold status –
the tune was so popular that Gallo Africa issued it for international release
via London Records in the US. Before long, jive Mabone – referring to the
headlights of the Impala – became the in-thing. A long string of recordings by
various sax jivers all helped to keep the trend alive for some two or three
years. […]"
"[…] Following Bopape’s 1977 semi-retirement, Nkosi carefully encouraged his own
influence with Gallo’s board of directors – using the influential advice that
Bopape gave to him – and not only became head of production in the stable, but
the first black man to be appointed to the board of directors at Gallo Africa
(in 1982)."
In August 1998, Nkosi was
paralyzed in a car accident, and died from his injuries two months later, at the
age of 58.
Many thanks again to Nick Lotay for allowing me to sample his texts on Nkosi for this narrative.
West Nkosi
Jump and Jive with West Nkosi
1967
USA
L-USA-2
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