Dudu Pukwana & Spear - Flute Music
Here's my first "official" contribution to the blog (and thanks to Sotise for inviting me).
I have a long-lasting fascination with the whole South-African expat scene that started back in the mid-60s when the members of the Blue Notes came to the realisation that it was no longer possible for a racially mixed band to play in South Africa. They came to Europe and with the sole exception of Louis Moholo-Moholo, none of them survived to see and experience liberation.
Spear was one of the many groups or combinations started by members of the Blue Notes, in this case Dudu Pukwana & Mongezi Feza. All in all, they released three albums, "In the Townships", "Diamond Express (reissued as "Ubagile") and this one, which has never been rereleased. Origninally out on the Caroline label in 1975, a subsidiary of Virgin (yep, that's right!) I dunno whether the first one is easily available anymore, but if there's an interest, I can always put it up here.
This is off a cdr version acquired in NY last year (which conveniently saves me the time and effort of ripping my own slightly worn vinyl copy). This is Dudu and Mongesi in an afro-funk-jazz mode, music as appealing to the heart and feet as to the head. And this particular release has the added interest of featuring John Stevens on the drums, in a very different style from what he's normally associated with (the SME etc.) Funk 'em, John!
Tracks:
1. Flute Music (Mongezi Feza)
2. Shekele (Dudu Pukwana)
3. Ko-didi (Victor Williams)
4. Sondela (Mongezi Feza)
5. Freeze (Dudu Pukwana)
6. You Cheated Me (Mongezi Feza)
7. Flute Music (Mongezi Feza)
Line-up:
Dudu Pukwana - alto, piano, percussion, voice
Mongezi Feza - trumpet, flute, congas, percussion, voice
Victor Williams - piano, electric piano, voice
Pete Cowling - bass guitar
John Stevens - drums
"Bob" - congas
"The Princess" - vocals
If this one catches on, I can promise more Dudu afro-funk-jazz kindathing from the 80s (when he had his Zila band and his own label, too). And of course. much more Blue Notes and BN-derived items, too!
Enjoy - heads and feet!
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30 comments:
Goodie available from here:
http://www.divshare.com/
download/2641507-ee9
Divshare can be slow for downloads, but it has the advantage of not having to wait around for hours for the next download if you're a free user. Pretty good for uploads, though. A little more than 10 minutes to get this one up on the server.
thanks for the spear album. I've only had the chance to check out a small amount of dudu's work, and the BoB. but what I've heard is fantastic. looking forward to hearing this one. thanks
My hope is that your yeoman work on behalf of the ZA sound brings a lot of new ears into the fold. The slightest tase of Ibrahim, McGregor, Dudu, Dyani, Mseleku...on and on...seems to be the greatest soul music ever conjured.
Great stuff! Many thanks.
Gary Windo played with these folks some (as I hear?). Can I throw out a request for *His Master's Bones*? I've been trying to track down some of his stuff since hearing him on Alan Shorter's *Tes Esat* and Ray Russell's *Secret Asylum*.
Thanks for this kinabalu. Always great to hear Pukwana and Feza.Never heard any of the rhythm section before.
Thanks!! did I have this lp or not? Cover looks familiar. Getting old. Should have kept a list.
Wow, this one's just marvellous! I just love SA jazz!
I have revived my own blog, posting some Lester Young right now, just in case there's some interest:
http://ubu-space.blogspot.com/
thank you kinabalu. i llike this kind of music since i heard dollar brand for the first time.
ist jazz? is it folklore? world music? idon't know.
btw: divshare is good for me. no waiting, parllel downloads are possible. slow? look back only one year or two, when most of us didn't have broadband connections, and compare with the duration of dl.s then.
kind regards
sambeck2001
hello, thank you very much for dudu pukwana. great other posts, too.
i hope for more sa-jazz.
go on and thank you again. georg.
Good to see so much positive feedback for the Dudu Pukwana and Spear posting. I can promise much more Pukwana, Blue Notes and other members thereof in the future. I'm very far away from home base at the moment, so don't expect too much in way of posting for the coming week or so.
I've just acquired a very rare specimen c/o Ebay, but I think I'll save for the Xmas season.
Ahem ...
Thank You, I knew Dudu very well, since his passing it has been very difficult to find any recordings. Thank You. I was lucky to see him at many gigs at the 100 Club, Bracknell Jazz Festival. Still close to many of his former Zila band members , such as Mervyn Africa and Lucky Ranku and even they do not have any recording left. Thank you.
Having problems downloading Dudu Pukwana using divshare, always an error when my Mac tries to open the file. Any chance of reposting on rapidshare or Zshare. Would be really thankful!
emile63,
I've reposted the Pukwana and Spear on RapidShare. The only disadvantage is that I've had to split the file in two as RS doesn't accept anything more than 100 mb in one go.
I've got three of his 80s recordings with Zila. The one that keeps eluding me is the first one live at the 100 Club. I'll see if I can't up some of them later on. There will for sure be more ex-pat SA material on this blog.
http://rapidshare.com/files/79262579/Dudu_Pukwana___Spear_-_Flute_Music.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/79263085/Dudu_Pukwana___Spear_-_Flute_Music.part2.rar
THANKS. GREAT XMAS PRESENT .
Can't wait to hear this. Thanks!
Thank you!
So much good stuff... is there any chance of a lossless re-up of this one? I've been digging "in the townships" and this sounds like it would be a perfect complement.
New link:
Adrive
I'm reposting as it was posted back then - a high quality mp3. I have the album, but transferring it to a digital format takes longer, so better to be quick about it. The sound quality is pretty good as it is.
A virtual pint for you, good sir.
Many thanks!
Somewhere on this blog there's a photo of me sipping a Castle Lager, so your virtual pint is gratefully appreciated!
what a fine edition of the band this was! great album! thank you so much for resurrecting it!
Thank you.
Thanks Kinabalu. You are a champion.
Thanks kinabalu!
Any CHance to have this re-up^ped?
%any thanks in advance !
reup possible please? Thanks!
Thanks for this and your commitment to promoting the greatness of SA music especially Jazz.
Just curious if anyone would have a lossless version of this they'd like to share.
Thanks!
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