209: Jazz Epistle Verse 1, by The Jazz Epistles

The Jazz Epistles (South Africa)
Jazz Epistle Verse 1 (1960)
8 tracks, 43 minutes
Only the so-called ‘complete’ collected recordings of the Jazz Epistles is available online, which can be found here: Spotify ∙ iTunes. They’re actually not complete though, as they lack the track ‘I Remember Billy’ from this album – you can listen to it here.

The Jazz Epistles are considered to be the first ‘progressive jazz’ group in South Africa. While there had been jazz and jazz-influenced styles played in the country for a few decades, the Jazz Epistles were the first coherent group to work in the small-band style of the bebop and post-bop idioms as opposed to the big band of swing or the solo piano of ragtime.

If there’s such thing as a pre-supergroup, then the Jazz Epistles would fit that billing. Of the six bandmembers, at least three of them were or became South African jazz legends. First there's alto saxophonist Kippie Moeketsi, who was already a popular name in South African jazz as the leader of marabi band the Jazz Dazzlers, and then there's Kippie’s protégés, Hugh Masekela on trumpet and Dollar Brand on piano. The Epistles’ sessions were the first time either of these musicians had been recorded, and both went on to be huge international stars in the worlds of jazz and beyond (Dollar Brand eventually becoming known as Abdullah Ibrahim). The remaining three of Jonas Gwangwa (trombone), Johnny Gertze (double bass) and Makaya Ntshako (drums) went on to become valuable members of Masekela’s and Ibrahim’s bands, even if they never made the leap to bandleaders themselves.

Recorded in the epochal year of 1959, Jazz Epistle Verse 1 – the only album recorded by the group – is very much characteristic of a late-50s American jazz record, with its mix of blueses, bops and ballads. In fact, the music here is virtually indistinguishable as South African as opposed to American, although maybe there is a slightest hint in Ibrahim’s piano playing on his own compositions of ‘Uku-Jonga Phambili’ and ‘Gafsa’. Nevertheless, even without a unique flavour of the band’s heritage, the music is very accomplished, especially being the first of its kind in the country. Even at this point, the players’ personalities are strong: Moeketsi’s style is more that of the old fashioned bebop, Ibrahim’s a much further-forward take including super-extended chords and unusual progressions, and Masekela’s flits between the two but mostly settles in the post-bop realm.

Perhaps Jazz Epistle Verse 1 is not the most groundbreaking record in the history of jazz, but it’s certainly an important milestone in the evolution of South African popular music, made even more interesting for its recording debuts of two of the country’s most successful ever musicians.