Mthutuzeli Dudu Pukwana (18 July 1938 – 30 June 1990) was a South African

saxophonist 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 ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

(although not known for his piano playing).

Early years in South Africa

Dudu Pukwana was born in Walmer Township,

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

, South Africa. He grew up studying piano in his family, but in 1956 he switched to

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

after meeting

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

player

Nikele Moyake Nikele (Nik) Moyake (c. 1933 – c. 1966) was born on a farm in Addo in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. He was a musician who played mbaqanga and jazz. Music career In the early 1950s Moyake moved to Port Elizabeth where he was a key fig ...

."Mtutuzeli Dudu Pukwana"
South African History online. In 1962, Pukwana won first prize at 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 ...

Jazz Festival with Moyake's Jazz Giants (1962 Gallo/Teal). In his early days he also played with

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".Jürge ...

. Chris McGregor then invited him to join the pioneering

Blue Notes In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical ...

sextet, where he played along with

Mongezi Feza Mongezi Feza (11 May 1945 – 14 December 1975) was a South African jazz trumpeter and flautist. Biography Feza was born in Queenstown, Cape Province, Union of South Africa, into a family of musicians, His elder brother, Sandi Feza, who ...

, Nikele Moyake,

Johnny Dyani Johnny Mbizo Dyani (30 November 1945 – 24 October 1986) was a South African jazz double bassist, vocalist and pianist, who, in addition to being a key member of The Blue Notes, played with such international musicians as Don Cherry (jazz), Do ...

and

Louis Moholo Louis Tebogo Moholo (born 10 March 1940), is a South African jazz drummer. He has been a member of several notable bands, including The Blue Notes, the Brotherhood of Breath and Assagai. Biography Born in Cape Town, Moholo formed The Blue ...

. Although the Blue Notes are often considered McGregor's group, Pukwana was initially the principal composer and all the group members had pivotal roles.

Emigration to Europe

As mixed-race groups were illegal under

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

, the Blue Notes, increasingly harassed by authorities, emigrated to Europe in 1964, playing in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

, and eventually settling in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. After The Blue Notes split in the late 1960s, Pukwana joined McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath big band, which again featured his soloing heavily. As a composer Pukwana wrote "Mra," one of the best-loved tunes by the Brotherhood. In February 1967, Pukwana received his first mention in America’s ''

DownBeat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' magazine: "Tenorist Ronnie Scott’s Old Place, having a hard time breaking even, scored a financial success with the Bob Stuckey Trio, featuring the leader’s organ and altoist Dudu Pukwana". The trio later expanded to a quartet when Phil Lee joined on guitar, and this group performed twice on BBC's ''Jazz Club''. As a quartet the band also had a regular session at the Witches Cauldron in

Belsize Park Belsize Park is an affluent residential area of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden (the inner north-west of London), England. The residential streets are lined with mews houses and Georgian and Victorian villas. Some nearby localities ar ...

. The band completed a series of UK dates throughout 1967, including regular appearances at

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club that has operated in Soho, London, since 1959. History The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was set up and managed by musicians Ronnie Sco ...

Assagai, Spear and Zila

He also went on to form two groups with Feza and Moholo. The first was

Assagai Assagai was an Afro-rock band, active in the early 1970s in London, whose relatively short career produced two albums recorded in 1971. It has been described as "the second best-known African group of the late 60s/early 70s in Britain" after Osi ...

, an

afro rock Afro rock is a style of rock music with West African influences. Afro rock bands and artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s included Osibisa, Assagai and Lafayette Afro Rock Band. Style The style relies on the use of rock string instruments ...

band that recorded for the

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

label. The second was Spear, with whom he recorded the seminal afro-jazz album ''In The Townships'' in 1973 for

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

The Manor Studio The Manor Studio (a.k.a. The Manor) was a recording studio in the manor house at the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England, north of the city of Oxford. Overview The Manor and its outbuildings are Listed building#England and ...

. Assagai and Spear, which recorded a few albums in the early 1970s, blended

kwela Kwela is a pennywhistle-based street music from southern Africa with jazzy underpinnings and a distinctive, skiffle-like beat. It evolved from the marabi sound and brought South African music to international prominence in the 1950s. The music h ...

rhythms, rocking guitars, and jazz solos. Pukwana's fiery voice was heard in many diverse settings including recordings of

Mike Heron James Michael Heron (born 27 December 1942) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work in the Incredible String Band in the 1960s and 1970s. Career Heron was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and attended th ...

Centipede Centipedes (from New Latin , "hundred", and Latin , " foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', lip, and New Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, an ...

and

Toots and the Maytals The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. ...

('' Reggae Got Soul'') as well as improvising with Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink (''Yi Yo Le'',

ICP ICP may refer to: Business * ICP srl, Italian manufacturer of automotive equipment and kit aircraft *Ideal customer profile: see Qualified prospect * International Comfort Products Corporation, US air conditioning and heating company * Indonesi ...

1978). With Mongezi Feza,

Elton Dean Elton Dean (28 October 1945 – 8 February 2006) was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello (a variant of the soprano saxophone) and occasionally keyboards. Part of the Canterbury scene, he featured in, among oth ...

Keith Tippett Keith Graham Tippetts (25 August 1947 – 14 June 2020), known professionally as Keith Tippett, was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "..spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporary ...

, and Louis Moholo, Pukwana recorded two masterful acoustic tracks on the mostly electric album ''Diamond Express'' (

Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

1977). The death of his great friend Mongezi Feza in 1975 also inspired the heart-rending "Blue Notes For Mongezi" (

Ogun Records Ogun Records is a jazz record label created in London in 1973 by South African expatriate bassist Harry Miller, his wife Hazel Miller, and sound engineer Keith Beal. They recorded British avant-garde jazz musicians Keith Tippett, Mike Osborn ...

), alongside Blue Notes colleagues Johnny Dyani, Chris McGregor and Louis Moholo. He also guested on albums with his former Blue Notes colleague,

, particularly ''Witchdoctor's Son'' (1978,

SteepleChase Records SteepleChase Records is a jazz record company and label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. SteepleChase was founded in 1972 by Nils Winther, who was a student at Copenhagen University at the time. He began recording concerts at Jazzhus Montmartre, wh ...

), which features some of his best recorded work and played extensively with the drummer John Stevens. Several African leaders invited him into their groups, including

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 ...

(''

Home Is Where the Music Is ''Home Is Where the Music Is'' is a 1972 jazz and Afrobeat double LP by Hugh Masekela issued by the joint American label Chisa/ Blue Thumb Records. The album was included in the book ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''. Critical recept ...

'', 1972) and trombonist

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 ...

(''African Explosion'', Who, Ngubani 1969).

Zila and the later years

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), partly recorded at the

Bracknell Jazz Festival The Bracknell Jazz Festival was a major showcase for British modern jazz in the 1980s. The festival was known for attracting a largish audience for free improvisation, modern jazz composition and all kinds of British modern jazz in general. Ho ...

, and ''Zila'' (1986), the last with keyboardist

Django Bates Django Bates (born Leon Bates, 2 October 1960) is a British jazz musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist, band leader and educator. He plays the piano, keyboards and the tenor horn. Bates has been described as "one of the most talented musici ...

and Pukwana increasingly using soprano sax. In duo with John Stevens, he recorded the free session ''They Shoot to Kill'' (Affinity Records, 1987), dedicated to

. On 16 April 1990, Pukwana took part in the Nelson Mandela Tribute held at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. He died in London of liver failure in June 1990, not long after the death of his longtime friend and colleague McGregor.

Discography

Source: *1967 ''Kwela'' (

77 Records 77 Records was a British record company and label established in 1957 by Doug Dobell, the proprietor of 'Dobell's Jazz Record Shop' at 77 Charing Cross Road, London. The label specialised in folk, blues, and jazz. Several British jazz musici ...

– 77 AFRO / 101) *1969 ''Dudu Pukwana and Spear'' (Quality LTJ-S 232) *1971 ''Assagai Assagai'' (

6360 030) *1972 ''Assagai Zimbabwe'' (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

6308 079) *1973 ''Simba and Assagai'' Afro Rock Festival (Contour 2870 311) *1973 ''In the Townships'' (

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

C1504) *1975 ''Diamond Express'' (

FLP 41041) *1975 ''Flute Music'' ( Caroline - Earthworks re-release) *1979 ''Yi Yole'' (

CP 021) *1981 ''Zila Sounds Live At The 100 Club'' (

Jika "Jika" (Zulu: "twist") is a song by South African house band Mi Casa. It was released as the lead single from their second studio album, ''Su Casa'' (2013). The song was the most played song for 12 straight weeks on several radio stations in Sout ...

JIKAZLC1) *1983 ''Live in Bracknell and Willisau'' (Jika JIKAZL2) *1986 ''Zila Zila 86'' (Jika JIKAZL3) *1987 ''Mbizo Radebe (They Shoot to Kill)'' (with John Stevens) (

Affinity Affinity may refer to: Commerce, finance and law * Affinity (law), kinship by marriage * Affinity analysis, a market research and business management technique * Affinity Credit Union, a Saskatchewan-based credit union * Affinity Equity Par ...

AFF 179/) *1990 ''Cosmics Chapter 90'' (Ah Um 005) *2006 ''Mbaqanga Songs'' (

Honest Jon's Records Honest Jon's is a British independent record shop based on Portobello Road in Ladbroke Grove, London, operating since 1974. The shop is owned and run by Mark Ainley and Alan Scholefield, who took over from one of the original proprietors, "Hone ...

HJRLP103) (re-issue of ''Kwela'')

References

External links

"Dudu Pukwana"
at discogs.com
"Kwela: A Celebration Of The Music Of Dudu Pukwana"
at pacificaradioarchives.org
"Dudu Pukwana"
in ''The Rough Guide to Jazz'', by Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, Brian Priestley (2004), p. 641. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pukwana, Dudu African jazz (genre) saxophonists South African jazz composers South African jazz saxophonists 1938 births 1990 deaths The Blue Notes members Freedom Records artists Avant-garde jazz saxophonists 20th-century saxophonists South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Centipede (band) members Brotherhood of Breath members Assagai members 20th-century jazz composers Deaths from liver failure