Dudu Pukwana - Diamond Express 1975

Dudu Pukwana grew up studying piano in his family but in 1956, he switched to alto sax after meeting tenor sax playerNick Moyake. In 1962, he won first prize at the Johannesburg Jazz Festival with Moyake's Jazz Giants (1962 Gallo/Teal). Chris McGregor then invited him to join the Blue Notes; the interracial sextet, increasingly harassed by authorities, went into exile in 1964, playing in France, Zurich, and London. Pukwana's fiery voice was heard not only inthe Blue Notes and in McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, but in many diverse settings ranging from the Incredible String Band to improvising with Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink (Yi Yo Le, ICP 1978). As a composer, Pukwanawrote "Mra," one of the best-loved tunes by the Brotherhood. His own groups, Assagai and Spear, which recorded a few albums in the early '70s, blended kwela rhythms, rocking guitars, and jazz solos. With Mongezi Feza, Elton Dean,Keith Tippett, and Louis Moholo, Pukwana recorded two masterful acoustic tracks on the mostly electric albumDiamond Express (Freedom 1977). His presence was also hugely felt in Moholo's Spirits Rejoice!, and in Harry Miller's Isipingo. Several African leaders invited him into their groups, including Hugh Masekela and trombonist Jonas Gwangwa's African Explosion (Who, Ngubani 1969). In 1978, Pukwana founded Jika Records and formed his own band, Zila, featuring South Africans Lucky Ranku on guitar and powerful vocalist Miss Pinise Saul. Zila recorded Zila Sounds (1981), Live in Bracknell and Willisau (1983), and Zila (1986), the last with keyboardist Django Bates andPukwana increasingly using soprano sax. In duo with John Stevens, he recorded the free session They Shoot to Kill(Affinity 1987), dedicated to Johnny Dyani. Dudu Pukwana died of liver failure in June 1990. AMG.

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Dudu Pukwana - In the Townships 1973

This glorious, ferocious recording is one of the pinnacles of the music created by the South African expatriates who settled in England in the '60s and melded with the free jazz community therein. Leader and alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana and trumpeter Mongezi Feza were twin fountainheads of this movement and are in rare form here, both instrumentally and as composers. The pieces here are largely riff-based, but what incredibly infectious and funky riffs these are. South African music emphasized the importance of various thematic materials by how often it was repeated in a song, and these guys iterate the melodies with a vengeance. Happily, these melodies are so utterly catchy that one can wallow in them for hours, listening with giddy enjoyment as these musicians overlay and embroider them with uproarious playing, not to mention the frequent vocal exhortations and cries. Pukwana's alto has an altogether human quality, by turns heart-rending and exultant, while Feza (one of the greatest trumpeters that virtually no one has heard) has a silvery, irrepressibly witty aspect to his work that sneaks up and kills when least expected. Anchored by the incendiary rhythm team of Harry Miller and Louis Moholo, this is a band that just doesn't stop, going from one pounding, dancing song to the next, never pausing for breath, as though playing nonstop during a 72-hour township festival. Along with Moholo's Spirits Rejoice! on Ogun, that all-too-brief moment where musicians feeling the racist restrictions of South Africa found a welcome home and fertile creative soil in England is nowhere better represented. Highly recommended. AMG.

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