Makwenkwe "Mackay" Davashe (1920–1972) was a South African musician. He achieved success as a saxophonist and composer with the

Manhattan Brothers The Manhattan Brothers was a popular South African singing group in the 1940s and 1950s, during the Apartheid era. Their sound drew on American ragtime, jive, swing, doo-wop, and several other jazz strains, as well as African choral and Zulu harmoni ...

and later the Jazz Epistles.

Biography

Davashe was born in 1920 in the South African city of

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

. He played the

pennywhistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...

in his youth before switching to the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

. He toured with several older musicians, including the Jazz Maniacs, a top South African orchestra, in the mid-1940s, and in 1952 several bands in the

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

region sought to cover "Majuba", a song he wrote. That year, ''

Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

'' magazine wrote that Davashe's "renditions of African themes are the best we have had so far". In 1950 he was leading a group called the Shantytown Sextet, in which

Kippie Moeketsi Jeremiah "Kippie" Morolong Moeketsi (27 July 1925 – 27 April 1983) was a South African jazz musician, notable as an alto saxophonist. He is sometimes referred to as "the father of South African jazz" and as "South Africa's Charlie Parker". Jürg ...

played. Davashe's style at the time was described as similar to that of tenor saxophonist

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

. By the mid-1950s Davashe had developed an interest in

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

, and began collaborating with

Dollar Brand Abdullah Ibrahim (born Adolph Johannes Brand on 9 October 1934 and formerly known as Dollar Brand) is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cap ...

(later known as

Abdullah Ibrahim Abdullah Ibrahim (born Adolph Johannes Brand on 9 October 1934 and formerly known as Dollar Brand) is a South African pianist and composer. His music reflects many of the musical influences of his childhood in the multicultural port areas of Cap ...

). The duo formed the Jazz Epistles, along with Moeketsi,

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

player

Jonas Gwangwa Jonas Mosa Gwangwa (19 October 1937 – 23 January 2021) was a South African jazz musician, songwriter and producer. He was an important figure in South African jazz for over 40 years. Career Gwangwa was born in Orlando East, Soweto. He firs ...

and

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for ...

. Scholar Christopher Merz describes them as quickly becoming the "most highly-regarded jazz group in the country", and remaining so until Brand left for exile in 1962. In the 1950s, a musical group he led was selected by the

as a

backing band A backup band or backing band is a musical ensemble that typically accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a recording session, and the group may or may not have its own name, such ...

. Davashe was described as having a considerable influence on the Manhattan Brothers' sound as a composer by bringing in African influences. 'General' Duze, a guitarist for the Manhattan Brothers, stated in 1987 that the band developed a unique, rather than imitative, sound during Davashe's tenure.

Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including African popular music, Afropop, jazz, a ...

and the Manhattan Brothers recorded Davashe's "Lakutshona Ilanga" in 1956. The song's popularity prompted requests for an English version, and in 1956, Gallotone Records released "Lovely Lies", Makeba's first solo success and first recording in English. In the English version, the

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

lyric about a man looking for his beloved in jails and hospitals was replaced with the unrelated and innocuous line "You tell such lovely lies with your two lovely eyes". "Lovely Lies" became the first South African record to chart on the United States ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Davashe helped write songs for ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

'', a 1959 Jazz musical. In the 1960s, Davashe led a group called the Jazz Dazzlers, with whom Moeketsi also worked. The group won the "first prize in the jazz category" at the Cold Castle Jazz Festival in 1962, which had been won the previous year by the Jazz Epistles. Davashe died in 1972 in

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

due to a stroke.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davashe, Mackay South African jazz saxophonists 20th-century saxophonists Jazz tenor saxophonists The Jazz Epistles members People from East London, South Africa Musicians from the Eastern Cape 1920 births 1972 deaths