Cover
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JAZZ DAZZLERS
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TRACK LISTING
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ARTISTS
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NOTESPersonnel for the Jazz Dazzlers sourced from Rob Allingham's liner notes for the CD Township Swing Jazz Vol. 2. Allingham has the date of this recording session as July 15, 1960 which complies with the same group recording for the USA label as Gwi-Gwi and his Jazz Rascals. The ABC matrix here though suggests that this GB 2996 disc was probably recorded in 1959. The Jazz Dazzlers formed out of the Shanty Town Septet. The Shanty Town group, whose name varies depending on the number of members, began initially as the instrumental backing for the Manhattan Brothers. It’s probable that this group may be behind the instrumentation of many of their early Gallotone recordings starting as early as 1947. According to Kippie Moeketsi, the leader of the Shanty Town group in these early days was Nathan “Dambuza” Mdledle of the Manhattan Brothers. (Staffrider) A 1952 feature article, in Drum magazine, on guitarist General “Jabulani” Duze revealed that he formed the group initially with Boycie Gwele on piano and Jacob “Mazala” Lepere on bass as the Shanty Town Trio. Duze began his career with the Rhythm Clouds under Albert Palmer, and eventually managed that group by 1946. (Drum). He had short stints with the Band in Blue, the Jive Bombers and the Harlem Swingsters before forming the Shanty Town Trio. Duze also appeared in the classic 1949 film Jim Comes to Joburg. The group recorded a number of tracks on the Columbia and HMV labels around mid to late 1950, sometimes with the vocalist Thandi Mpambani (now Klaasens) and sometimes as backing for other groups such as the Gay Robinaires. Kippie Moeketsi claimed to have joined the Shanty Town group after he left the Harlem Swingsters some time in 1950. A feature article in Zonk magazine from November 1950 refers to the group as the Shanty Town Quintet with Moeketsi on saxophone and Norman Martin on drums as the two additional members. (Zonk) Moeketsi, in his Staffrider interview, referred to the group as a quartet prior to his arrival, though he could not recall the name of the drummer. He then goes on to say that Mackay Davashe joined the group around 1951. (Staffrider) Born 1920 in East London, Sherwood Makwenkwe Davashe started playing sax with the Merry Mischiefs, a seven-piece band led by Dale Quaker, in 1943. (Huskisson) Prior to that he had studied at the Wilfred Sentso School of Modern Piano Syncopation. The school was established by Sensto at the Mooki Memorial College in Orlando between 1937 and June 1938 and became an important education outlet for many young performers. (Ballantine) Between 1944 and 1945 he played with the Jazz Maniacs who by that point were being led by Wilson Silgee. (Huskisson) With each new recording, the Shanty Town group did seem to expand. On the Columbia YE 63 disc it is the inclusion of Davashe on tenor sax that makes up the Shanty Town Quartet; and then with Kippie Moeketsi on clarinet, and Willie Malang (Malan) on drums, they became known as the Shanty Town Sextet (or sometimes as the Manhattan Sextet.) (Drum) By 1953 the group was led by Mackay Davashe, and with shifting personnel, recorded as the Shanty Town Septet for Troubadour and the Shanty Town Seven for Gallo. Other artists associated with the group by this point included Zebulon Moreti on trumpet, W. Adams on bass, D. Mohlala on trombone and for a brief period during a tour of Cape Town in 1954, a very young Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) on piano. Throughout the mid 1950s the band also backed other vocal groups including the Lo Six and many of the Skylarks and Sunbeams most notable recordings. Again the band shifted personnel in 1958. Along with Gwigwi Mrwebi, Kleintjie Rubushe, Dugmore “Darkie” Slinger, and Sol Klaaste, they would record as the Jazz Dazzlers. Subsequently, with the inclusion of Jonas Gwangwa and Hugh Masekela, they would form the core of the band backing the iconic King Kong musical. This new configuration recorded again as the Jazz Dazzlers in 1959. And by 1960 the group put out at least two discs as Gwigwi and his Jazz Rascals on Gallo’s USA label. In 1961 the King Kong musical toured London with many of the artists, including Mrwebi, Masekela and Gwangwa, leaving South Africa to travel with the show. Some never returned. The Jazz Dazzlers would perform again at the classic Cold Castle National Jazz Festival at Moroka, Jabavu in 1962. This time the septet included only two from the 1953 Shanty Town lineup—Mackay Davashe and Kippie Moeketsi. |
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