A Tribute to Henry Sithole and Bunny Luthuli: The Drive (1977)

A special recording. Besides being comprised of some outstanding funk-fusion meets early disco numbers featuring Bheki Mseleku and the rest of this talented band, these are the last recordings with the core band intact, made only two weeks before Henry Sithole and Bunny Luthuli were killed in a car crash.

Plenty has been written on this blog and elsewhere on this fine band. If you use the "search" function in the right-hand column you will find links to much more info and earlier albums.

Before "The Drive", the Sithole brothers formed the brass core of the Heshoo Beshoo group. Luthuli played with Almon's Jazz 8. After The Drive, various members went on to form Sakhile, and also Spirits Rejoice. And of course, there is the stellar rise to international fame of Bheki Mseleku.

The liner notes tell us that The Drive were on the brink of an "overseas tour" breakthrough.

"Right at the peak of their dazzling career when plans were laid to take the group overseas to engagements that would pace the way for international success - a fatal car accident claimed the live of the two who had worked so hard to achieve this these goals. Bunny Luthuli was married only a few months before his death. Henry Sithole leaves a wife and four children."

"Join us in remembering these two outstanding musicians through their music in this recording - made only two short weeks before their tragic death."

Like a number of other Drive albums, there is no record of who the musicians were. When the band formed in 1971, Duke Makasi and Mike Makhalamele were early members. Kaya Mahlangu, Sipho Gumede and Jabu Nkosi also spent time as members. As far as I can make out though, from around 1975 through to 1977 the band was pretty stable member-wise. One album that does list and picture the band members is the 1975 album "Can You feel It?".  Based on this, my guess is as follows: The lead female vocalist featured is almost certainly Mavis Maseko.

Henry Sithole - Band leader: Alto Sax
Stanley Sithole - Tenor and baritone sax
David Sithole - Trumpet
Bunny Luthuli - Guitar
Bheki Mseleku - Synthesiser, hammond piano and electric organ
Nelson Magwaza - Drums, percussion and congas
Tony Sauli - bass

Orlando Stadium Soweto 19th Jan 1976 support acts - The Drive with Annalene Malebo, Lucky Mabaso Bunny Luthuli, Temba (?), Tony Soali, Nelson Magwaza, Lucky Mbatha, Mavis Maseku, the Sithole Brothers Stanley, Danny & Henry. Photo by David Marx 

Discography
Slow Drive to Soweto (c1971, AYL 1009)
The Sky's The Limit (1975, RCL 1201)
Can You Feel It (1975, RCL 1202)
Drive Live (1975, RCL 1203)
Coming To The End of This (1976, RCL 1208)
Zone 6 (1976, RCL 1215)
A Tribute to Henry Sithole and Bunny Luthuli (1977, RCL 1216)
Lets Cool it (1980, BL271)

Tracks:

1. Mama We (Henry Sithole) 6.07

2. Sala Ngoxolo (Henry Sithole) 2.57

3. Let's Have a Ball (Bunny Luthuli) 8.36

4. Thando's Mood (Bunny Luthuli) 16.24

Download link here.

Slow Drive to Soweto (1974)

Following our focus on seventies soul, groove and fusion it would be remiss not to repost this classic from seminal seventies band The Drive, established in 1971 by Henry Sithole and Bunny Luthuli. 

From the original post at matsuli:
Now some people really don't like it when African musicians make "non-African" music. This cuts close to the debate on authenticity, tradition and modernity. It has political dimensions and can get people very worked up. Witness the recent conversations on the WorldService blog when the writer expressed his dislike for - amongst others - the emphasis placed on the western aspects of African music. I don't want to get involved too far in this debate but I would like to briefly illustrate how jazz, soul and fusion in South Africa came to represent a declaration of independence and freedom from the constrictions that the Apartheid government had made regarding cultural and political expression.  

In the 1960s Apartheid social engineering in South Africa resulted in the promotion by the government of indigenous cultural styles. Nine different radio services were created along language lines. This was in line with the government's political strategy of eradicating an urban black population. The aim was to ensure that the black workers required for mining and manufacture were temporary sojourners in the urban areas with traditional homes in the rural countryside (the so-called bantustans, or independent homelands in government parlance).

Within this context playing or at the very least making a passing reference to non-indigenous styles such as jazz, soul and rock was subversive and understood and read to be a declaration of freedom from the government straitjacket. But this political act decreased the avenues available for musicians to make money. Finding and playing to audiences without radio exposure was difficult. Added to this were more and more restrictions and licensing requirements that mean playing to urban audiences in the seventies was inherently problematic. Not many nightclubs existed in urban areas and promoter often took risky decisions to put on live shows.  


The Drive (L-R): Bunny Luthuli, Temba (?), Tony Soali, Nelson Magwaza, Lucky Mbatha, Mavis Maseku, Stanley Sithole, Danny Sithole & Henry Sithole.(Photo © David Marks, Orlando, Soweto)

The Drive, along with The Movers, were South Africa's premier soul jazz band and represented an articulate black urban vision of a future at odds with Apartheid's engineers. Despite the political statement inherent in playing jazz or soul the music had a mixed reception. If you listen to the LP being shared today some tracks work better than others and some are probably best left on the cutting floor. 

Slow Drive to Soweto (1974, AYL 1009)
1. Sweet Lips
2. Do It Again 
3. Let It Be Me 
4. Spinning Wheel feat Lucky Mbatha 
5. Yesterday feat. Lucky Mbatha 
6. Whats On Your Mind feat. Lucky Mbatha
7. Love and Peace
8. For Friends 
9. Howl 
10. Slow Drive to Soweto

DOWNLOAD: Mediafire

Blue Notes at Wits (1963) - John Blacking recording

Booklet promoting their last South African Tour before going
into exile in 1964. From left to right Dudu Pukwana,
Monty Weber, Chris McGregor, Mongezi Feza.

courtesy of Tony McGregor

Ian Bruce Huntley knew how to hold onto important artefacts: take for example this March 1963 recording of the Blue Notes at Wits University. Not many people knew it existed, and fewer still have heard it.

Recorded by Professor John Blacking at the University of Witwatersrand in Johanesburg on 22nd March 1963, it features Chris McGregor (Piano), Elijah Nkwanyana (Trumpet), Dudu Pukwana (saxophone), Martin Mgijima (Double Bass), and it is believed to possibly be Nelson Magwaza on drums. It is not known who features on the baritone saxophone, but it may well be Christopher Columbus (Mbra) Ngcukana – as he did play with the band during 1963.

This gig comes near the beginning of a year of extensive change and touring for the Blue Notes in South Africa, winning the best band prize at that year’s Castle Lager Jazz Festival. The Blue Notes also played the Wits Great Hall on 29^th April as part of a poetry and jazz evening with Dennis Mpale replacing Elijah Nkwanyane on trumpet, and Early Mabuza on drums. The poetry was read by Zakes Mokae. They went on to do a similar poetry and jazz gig in Cape Town on 18^th May, and will have driven south-north right across the country to play the University of Turfloop Graduation ball on 26^th May.

Further detail to this background information can be found on Mike Fowler’s great Blue Notes archive site here.

When I asked Ian how he came to be in possession of this recording, he said he was friends with architect Julian Beinart who moved to Cape Town from Wits in 1965. Julian Beinart had intersected with John Blacking at Wits University, an English anthropologist and ethnomusicologist who originally came to South Africa under the employ of Hugh Tracey at the International Library of African Music (ILAM). Blacking gave Beinart a copy of the recording, and Beinart gave Ian a copy. You can read more of Blacking and his studies of Venda music and culture here and here.

Like Ian, Julian Beinart was a jazz aficionado. His CV says he produced two African Jazz Albums - I have written him a mail asking for more information.  Beinart’s distinguished career took him to

Disa Park, Vredehoek.

international academic and design heights at MIT. Besides being responsible for designing some important buildings in the USA, Beinart was also responsible for the Pepper Pots in Vredehoek, Cape Town.

Judging by the number of inquiries I have been receiving – especially from those of you who have purchased the book - there are quite a few Electric Jive visitors who are keen to know when the full Ian Huntley archive will become public. I am sorry to say that a bereavement in my family at the beginning of this year means it is going to take a month or so longer than I had originally anticipated. Please do be patient – I have Rose Lombard helping me out, and we are getting somewhere – but we are not there yet.

Today’s special recording comes in at around fifty minutes. Any help with identifying the opening track will be much appreciated.

1. Unidentified (11:07)

2. Vortex Special (6:56)

3. Boogie Stop Shuffle (4:20)

4. Kippie (4:33)

5. The Baptist (6:38)

6. Ukuphuma Kwetanga (2:52)

7. Jongaphu (4:48)

8. Cherokee (6:40)

Rapidshare here
  Mediafire here

Kippie Moeketsi: The LP he never made (1971)

Kippie Moeketsi, Victor Ntoni and Danayi Dlova in their one-off practise jam at the Langa Community Centre, Cape Town 1971. Picture by Ian Bruce Huntley

Morolong, musical genius, unchallenged as the foremost South African jazz musician of his generation, the “Charlie Parker of South Africa”.  Abdullah Ibrahim (then Dollar Brand) pays homage on the sleeve notes of his 1971 recording Peace - Dollar Brand + 2:  “It was Kippie Moeketsi, the father of us all, an alto player, the first person who made us aware of the riches inside South Africa, who convinced me to devote my entire life to music.”

In a 1980 interview Hugh Masekela laments the fact that Kippie never made an LP of his own: “It is amazing that Kippie Moeketsi has been around for a long time and has never made an LP on his own. It is only when Pat Matshikiza or Dollar Brand calls him that he’s been able to do something. There’s an image hanging around him that he is a drunkard. Truth is he has been frustrated in his attempts to set things straight for Black artists. Bra Kippie is among the most brilliant musicians we’ve ever had and also a champion for the rights of his colleagues. Even militants use to call him a trouble-maker”(Umhlaba Wethu, edited by Mutloase Mothobi – Skotaville Publishers, 1980).

This live concert recording of Kippie Moeketsi, made and preserved by Ian Bruce Huntley, is special in that it is a recording with Moeketsi as leader - the LP he never made. In fact, at ninety minutes long it would have to be a double LP. This recording contains tracks we believe were composed by Moeketsi and are not recorded anywhere else. I use the word “believe” advisedly as jazz buffs more knowledgeable than me cannot identify seven of the nine tracks from this concert. Ian is of the opinion that some of these tracks are Kippie’s own creations that he never gave names to. Does anyone recognise these from elsewhere?

Today’s previously unreleased recording is also special in that ten days after this once-off concert at the Art Centre in Cape Town, Dollar Brand sent Moeketsi, Victor Ntoni and Nelson Magwaza a telegram asking them to come to Johannesburg and join him in making what were his first commercial recordings in South Africa since 1960. Produced by Rashid Vally, those records are now lauded as classics:  Dollar Brand + 2 with Victor Ntoni and Nelson Magwaza (Gallo-Soultown KRS110) and “Dollar Brand + 3 with Kippie Moeketsi” - with Ntoni and Magwaza as well. (Gallo-Soultown KRS113).

This concert at the Art Centre in Cape Town also flags the emergence of "the sad man of South African jazz" from a number of years where he did not record or perform much in public. Kippie went on to make major contributions to two of Pat Matshikiza's recordings, and also recorded with Hal Singer: see Matsuli's As-Shams discography which includes Dollar Brand +2, Dollar Brand + 3, Tshona (1975), Sikiza Matshikiza (1976), and Kippie Moeketsi-Hal Singer (1977).

When the plan to bring Kippie to Cape Town was originally hatched, Ian Huntley agreed to pay for the airticket - what was  then a 'substantial' sum of fifty rand. When Danayi Dlova (sax), Victor Ntoni (bass) and Nelson Magwaza (drums) went with Ian to Cape town airport in Ian’s Renault 4L, they found Kippie with a small tog bag in his right hand - no saxophone.

Kippie spent that night at Ian’s flat on Main Road in Rondebosch listening to music from Ian’s already legendary collection of vinyl. Duke Ellington’s big band recordings propelled Kippie to prolonged tears of emotion and appreciation. The next day was spent trying to find a saxophone that Kippie could use for the concert. In the end, Ian made a plan and persuaded his friends Lawrence and Sherlaine Koonen at The Record Centre to give him a loan (Ian would normally spend every spare cent of his modest mapmaker’s salary on buying jazz LP's from them). So, it came to be that Ian bought Kippie a brand new Selmer Mark 6 alto saxophone.  

Victor Ntoni: Pic by Ian Bruce Huntley

Kippie then took up temporary lodging with a Mrs George in Langa, and spent time hanging out with the band members. When I asked Ian how much the band practised together before this Art Centre concert he laughed. “I could never find them at the Langa Community Centre practising, I got quite worried.  They played precisely one jam of a gig at the Langa Community Centre, and then just got up that night at the Art Centre and let this concert just happen.”

As a live recording there are one or two brief moments where Danayi Dlova and Kippie Moeketsi’s saxophones feel around to find each other. There are however sustained flashes of brilliance from Kippie and all of the band members. Sometimes you have to listen carefully to distinguish if it is Kippie Moeketsi or Danayi Dlova playing solo. Kwa-Mashu, Durban-born Nelson Magwaza’s drumming and Victor Ntoni’s bass are really top class.

Less than two weeks later Kippie Moeketsi, Nelson Magwaza and Victor Ntoni took the  train from Cape Town to Johannesburg to make those recordings with Dollar Brand. It is understood that the train ride was quite a party.

It was in 1954 when Dollar Brand joined Mackay Davashe’s Shantytown Sextet when he first met Kippie Moeketsi. Together they embarked upon an epic journey exploring and experimenting with the music of the U.S. jazz and bop greats. Along with Dollar Brand, Moeketsi then went on to form the legendary Jazz Epistles with  Hugh Masekela,  Jonas Gwangwa, Johnny Gertze and Makhaya Ntshoko. Their album, Jazz Epistle Verse One, was recorded in 1960. “Scullery Department” the sixth track featured on this Art Centre recording was originally recorded on Verse One.


Kippie Moeketsi's statue outside "Kippies"
 in Newtown, Johannesburg

A discography of some of Kippie Moeketsi’s recordings can be found at Siemon’s Flat International website here. Another valuable work in progress is a discography of Dollar Brand / Abdullah Ibrahim's prolific outputs here

In September 2009 a bronze sculpture of Kippie was unveiled in tribute by the City of Johannesburg outside the Newtown jazz club bearing his name.
Kippie Moeketsi died penniless in 1983 at the age of 58.

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

Winston Mankunku gem

Love for Free: Hidden South African Jazz Archive revealed

The Blue Notes: A Journey of Faith

Chris McGregor Quintet Live in Geneva

Becoming Free In Cape Town

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

Kippie Moeketsi: The LP he never made
Recorded Live at the Art Centre, Cape Town - in stereo - by Ian Bruce Huntley
September 1971

1. Un-named Track One (3:49)
2. Body and Soul (9:49)
3. I Remember You (14:15)
4. Lonesome Lover (Max Roach) (14:07)
5. Un-named Track Five (3:07)
6. Scullery Department (10:43) - (Moeketsi)
7. Turnaround  (Ornette Coleman) (14:16)
8. Un-named Track Eight (14:03)
9. Un-named Track Nine (7:23)

Rapidshare here
Mediafire here

Can You Feel It?

So often mentioned as South Africa's greatest soul jazz band The Drive have never had a proper re-issue or taken their proper place in the ongoing unfolding and retelling of South Africa's musical past and future. Maybe our efforts here at Electric Jive can tip the balance in favour of The Drive. Certainly we can feel it!

The Drive (L-R): Bunny Luthuli, Temba (?), Tony Soali, Nelson Magwaza, Lucky Mbatha, Mavis Maseku, Stanley Sithole, Danny Sithole & Henry Sithole.(Photo © David Marks, Orlando, Soweto)

The band was started by Henry Sithole and Bunny Luthuli in 1971. As Matt over at Matsuli put it a few years back "The Drive represented an articulate black urban vision of a future at odds with Apartheid's engineers." Over the course of their six years of existence they travelled the length and breadth of Southern Africa playing festivals and what venues were still available. Their recorded output is to the best of our knowledge a total of eight LPs. There was a poorly remastered attempt at a reissue on a budget around ten years ago but it sunk into the budget racks.

Discography* (Updated July 2011)
- Slow Drive to Soweto (c1971, AYL 1009)

- The Sky's The Limit (1975, RCL 1201)
- Can You Feel It (1975, RCL 1202)
- Drive Live (1975, RCL 1203)

- Coming To The End of This (1976, RCL 1208)
- Zone 6 (1976, RCL 1215)

- A Tribute to Henry Sithole and Bunny Luthuli (1977, RCL 1216, recorded just two weeks prior to Henry and Bunny's fatal traffic accident)
- Lets Cool it (1980, BL271)

The Drive are probably best known for their track Way Back Fifties which appears unabridged on the LP we are sharing today. Enjoy the ride!

The Drive - Can You Feel It (1975, RCL 1202)
Way Back Fifties
Together
Can You Feel It
Produced by David Thekwane

MF (new link as of 30 Dec 2014)