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 Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

". Jürgen Schadeberg
"Profiles"
''Jazz, Blues & Swing: Six Decades of Music in South Africa'', New Africa Books, 2007, p. 145. He played with and influenced some of South Africa's great musicians, including

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. Life and career Gwangwa was born in Orlando East, Sowe ...

Abdullah Ibrahim Abdullah Ibrahim (born Adolph Johannes Brand on 9 October 1934), previously 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 ...

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, ja ...

and

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 f ...

Biography

Born into a musical

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

family, Jeremiah Morolong Moeketsi was the youngest of 11 brothers, and one sister who was a nurse (Mirriam Ntsadi Kathar, ''née'' Moeketsi), all but four of whom played an instrument. Growing up in George Goch township was unpleasant for him and he was often truant. According to the Johannesburg official website, "His mother used to go looking for him, shouting: 'kippie-kippie-kippie', as if he were a chicken" — hence his nickname. At 20 he started playing clarinet, but would soon move on to the saxophone. Influenced by his pianist brother Jacob Moeketsi, Kippie's career began playing in

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s with his group, known as the Band in Blue. Over the years he played with several bands, including Shantytown Sextet, the Harlem Swingsters and famously the '' Jazz Epistles'' that brought fame to him,

(or Dollar Brand as he was known then),

, and

. Moeketsi claimed that he taught Ibrahim everything he knew about music. Ibrahim has credited Moeketsi with introducing him to the music of his greatest influence,

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

. Often introduced as "Bra Joe from

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" (Abdullah Ibrahim wrote a composition of that title to feature him), Moeketsi joined the cast of

Todd Matshikiza Todd Tozama Matshikiza OMSS (7 March 1921 – 4 March 1968) was a South African jazz pianist, composer and journalist. As a journalist, he was a contributor to the innovative South African magazine ''Drum,'' in which he wrote in a unique style ...

's musical ''

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'', which would take him to

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in 1961. After the Sharpeville massacre of 1960, most of his contemporaries went into exile, but he returned to South Africa. In the oppressive circumstances he would not perform for four years. After many years of alcohol abuse, Moeketsi died penniless and disgruntled in 1983, aged 58.

Legacy

*The Newtown jazz club Kippies, located at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, is named after him."Kippies, the club that wasn't there"
, Joburg official website, 16 September 2002. *A bronze sculpture of him, designed by Guy du Toit and Egon Tania, was unveiled on 25 September 2009. At the ceremony, Jonas Gwangwa said of his former mentor: "Bra Kippie was a very, very talented musician ... he became a father of jazz.... He was very challenging. He'd just walk on stage, take out his horn and play.""Kippie lives on in Newtown"
, Joburg official website, 29 September 2009. * Moeketsi is the subject of a 1999 documentary film by Glenn Ujebe Masokoane entitled ''Blues For Kippie''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moeketsi, Kippie 1925 births 1983 deaths South African jazz saxophonists Musicians from Johannesburg 20th-century South African saxophonists Jazz alto saxophonists The Jazz Epistles members

Biography

Legacy

Further reading

References