African Jazz Pioneers

Trackimage Playbut Trackname Playbut Trackname
Jive Township (Remix) 04:14 Tools
Hellfire 05:25 Tools
Jive Township 04:00 Tools
Bra Ntemi's Kwela 04:12 Tools
Emalangeni 05:00 Tools
Skokiaan 04:03 Tools
Pata Pata 05:57 Tools
Ten Ten Special 04:08 Tools
Shufflin' Joe 03:40 Tools
Slip 'n fly 04:14 Tools
Dark City 07:24 Tools
Yeka Yeka 02:40 Tools
Sondela 06:39 Tools
Bhodlumlilo 00:00 Tools
Nonto Sangoma 00:00 Tools
Umbombela 00:00 Tools
Ntabiseng 05:28 Tools
Hosh 00:00 Tools
Sip 'n Fly 04:14 Tools
Mzabalazo 04:40 Tools
Nontosangoma 00:00 Tools
Mbombela 00:00 Tools
Randfontontein 00:00 Tools
Way Back Fifties 00:00 Tools
Uyeyeye 00:00 Tools
Emakhaya 04:32 Tools
Bhod L'Umilo 04:44 Tools
Ten Ten 04:08 Tools
Riverside 00:00 Tools
Front Page 00:00 Tools
Nthabiseng 00:00 Tools
Flying High 00:00 Tools
Uzozo 05:16 Tools
Sgaxa Mabande 04:55 Tools
Sunrise - Mpumalanga 00:00 Tools
Ten Ten (10-10) Special 00:00 Tools
Noto Sangoma 00:00 Tools
Baby Ntsoare 00:00 Tools
Kofifi 07:35 Tools
Woodpecker 00:00 Tools
02-slip 'n fly 00:00 Tools
Hullo Hullo There - Sanibonani 04:17 Tools
Afrika Vukani 04:36 Tools
Sip N' Fly 00:00 Tools
Viva Madiba 00:00 Tools
05-skokiaan 00:00 Tools
09-umbombela 00:00 Tools
Meadowlands 00:00 Tools
Flea Market 00:00 Tools
12-sondela 00:00 Tools
13-bhodlumlilo 00:00 Tools
Izinto Zajika 00:00 Tools
Amaqhawe 00:00 Tools
14-ntabiseng 00:00 Tools
Amagama Aphelile (Amaqhawe) 00:00 Tools
Riverside Special 00:00 Tools
Bana Ba Afrika 00:00 Tools
Meadowlands (With Dolly Rathebe) 06:02 Tools
Orlando 00:00 Tools
The Tabernacle 00:00 Tools
Bashimane 00:00 Tools
Mantonoro 00:00 Tools
Mogolokwane 00:00 Tools
Lasmoney 00:00 Tools
Bhod L'Umilo (To Belch Fire) 00:00 Tools
Maperepeswa 00:00 Tools
Mzabalazo (Home Town) 00:00 Tools
Amagama Aphelile 00:00 Tools
Marabi 00:00 Tools
Baby Ntsoare (Live) 00:00 Tools
Ingculaza 00:00 Tools
Sunrise 00:00 Tools
Fleamarket 00:00 Tools
Woodpecker (Live) 00:00 Tools
Ngenzeni 00:00 Tools
Mpara 00:00 Tools
Emalangeni (Jail) 00:00 Tools
Amagama Aphelile (Live) 00:00 Tools
Yini Sithandwa 00:00 Tools
Bhod l'Umilo [To Belch Fire] 00:00 Tools
Fleamarket (Live) 00:00 Tools
Hullo Hullo There-Sanibonani 00:00 Tools
Sgaxa 'Mabande (You Are The Captain) 00:00 Tools
Kokoko Vulani 00:00 Tools
Isikhalo Somkhwenyana 00:00 Tools
10th Avenue 00:00 Tools
Dark City (Live) 00:00 Tools
Sgaxa Mabande [You Are the Captain] 00:00 Tools
Shufflin Joe 00:00 Tools
Emalangeni [Jail-Zulu Slang] 00:00 Tools
Bhasobha O Tsebanyana 00:00 Tools
Bana ba Africa 00:00 Tools
Negenzeni 00:00 Tools
Nthabiaseng 00:00 Tools
Skokiaan (Live) 00:00 Tools
kwatsaduza 00:00 Tools
Gqadambekweni 00:00 Tools
Kofifi (Live) 00:00 Tools
Maperepeswa (Butterflies) 00:00 Tools
Hellfire (Live) 00:00 Tools
Ke Jive 00:00 Tools
Ingculazi 00:00 Tools
Sip'n Fly 00:00 Tools
Slip 'n' Fry 00:00 Tools
Dark City - Hugh Masekela 00:00 Tools
Umbobela 00:00 Tools
Flea Market - Albert Khumalo 00:00 Tools
Amagama Aphelile - Ntemi Piliso 00:00 Tools
Kofifi - Stompie 00:00 Tools
Sip & Fly 00:00 Tools
Jive Township (Remix) 00:00 Tools
Hellfire - Mickey Vilikazi 00:00 Tools
Africa Vukani 00:00 Tools
Woodpecker - Sipho Bhengu 00:00 Tools
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The background of the African Jazz Pioneers stretches back to the 1950s when jazz was the fashion and big bands were the name of the game. The Band from the Republic of South Africa, founded in the '80s, plays '50s and '60s South African jazz, attempting to recreate the fun of that era's live performances. It was in those days when Dorkay House (at the end of Eloff Street, Johannesburg) provided a haven for South Africa's music legends. On any single day it was the place that you could bump into Dollar Brand, Kippie Moeketsi, Miriam Makeba, Ntemi Piliso, Dudu Pukwana, Hugh Masekela, Wilson Silgee, Zakes Nkosi, Jonas Gwangwane... the list goes on forever. But all that ended in the sixties when big bands went out of fashion. Things remained that way until June 1981 when several members of the band decied it was time to get many of those great musicians back into Dorkay House and back on stage. Led by sax player Ntemi Piliso, a seasoned marabi star, the group comprises both veteran marabi players and younger musicians who have picked up the style. It's always fascinating to hear how musicians from other countries have taken “America's music” - Jazz - and adapted it to suit their ethnic and cultural heritage. This is especially true when one considers the music of Africa, one of the primary wellsprings of Jazz's syncopated rhythmic patterns. Rhythm is what African ensembles are about, an observation that is emphatically underscored by the African Jazz Pioneers on this collection of some of their best work released by Gallo Records. The music, we are told in the liner notes, “fuses kwela, mbaqanga, marabi and Jazz to form a sound that is unique and trademark by nature.” No argument here. Marabi, one of the earliest uniquely South African musical forms, arose in the black townships in the '20s. It features a sort of distilled blues harmony - three chords (like the ones in the standard American 12-bar form) repeated in short units. From marabi came kwela, also a music of the urban ghettoes, which incorporates elements of swing and expanded instrumentation (most often including a pennywhistle). Mbaqanga, which evolved in the '60s, took these concepts to a higher level by introducing more sophisticated textures and several of the newer innovations of the evolving Afro-American Jazz tradition, such as electric instruments. The outcome of this amalgamation is music that is not only rhythmically strong but also quite conventional, never departing from established melodic or harmonic motifs and using snippets of swing, ragtime, trad Jazz, dance music and a trace of bop as its essential building blocks. Once the rhythmic groundwork has been laid and the cadence established, it remains unalterably in place to provide a sturdy backdrop for vocals and improvised passages, which flow naturally from the dominant theme. This doesn't mean that the music lacks variety; far from it. Each of these numbers is a unique composition that may bear a superficial relationship to the others but imparts its own measure of freshness and charm. Instrumentation varies too with the Jazz Pioneers using brass, reeds, guitars, a marimba, vocalists (alone or in tandem) and assorted African instruments to amplify the music's percussive substructure. The Pioneers, more than four decades old in one form or another, have breached almost insuperable racial barricades to entertain audiences all over the world with their energetic brand of “township music,” calling to mind a more contemporary version of America's venerable Preservation Hall Jazz Band. I am unable to affirm that this album represents “the best” of what the ensemble has to offer, but can say that it is overflowing with bright, good-natured music that is a pleasure to hear. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.