Happy Birthday Mtutuzeli Dudu Pukwana!

Remembering saxophone great Dudu Pukwana with a 1964 Antibes Jazz Fest performance with the Blue Notes and much more. 

Check out Aquarium Drunkard's Some For Dudu tribute mix right here. 

Dudu Pukwana's debut with The Spears being reissued by Matsuli Music

Dudu Pukwana's rare 1968 album with The Spears is being packaged with a previously unreleased 1969 session featuring Richard Thompson & Simon Nicol! 

This just in from Matsuli Music...
In addition to this 1968 Dudu Pukwana And the Spears album (listen below), there was a second record made in 1969, after Dudu had visited South Africa with Joe Boyd. The second recording has never been released, and it has some important musicians featured. Double LP in production. Our research indicates the following personnel for this second unreleased recording:

Unreleased recordings confirmed line-up
Dudu Pukwana – Tenor sax
Richard Thompson – guitar
Simon Nicol – guitar
Harry Miller – bass
Louis Moholo – drums
Mongezi Feza – trumpet
Joe Mogotsi – vocals
Bob Stuckey – organ and bass pedals

Likely
Mamsie (Mthombeni) Gwangwa - vocals
Chris McGregor – piano
Phil Lee – guitar
Teddy Osei – tenor sax

Possible
Jonas Gwangwa – trombone
Remi Kabaka – drums or percussion
Jimmy Scott – percussion
Tunji Oyelana – drums or percussion

One For The Weekend: Johnny Dyani Quartet

On this 1979 recording, bass boss Johnny Dyani is joined by Don Cherry, Dudu Pukwana & Makaya Ntshoko. 

Chris McGregor's early recording with 17-piece big band finally reissued

Check out the track "Switch" from Jazzman Records limited-edition reissue of Jazz – The African Sound below.

Jazz – The African Sound, Chris McGregor's one off album with the Castle Lager Big Band, is an overlooked jazz classic, and a true holy grail for collectors of jazz and world-jazz. A cornerstone of South Africa's illustrious jazz history, it has been out of print since before the end of apartheid. Never before released outside of the country, this painstakingly restored reissue is the long-delayed first chance to hear Chris McGregor's debut recording as leader. As well as fully restored audio, the package features unpublished photographs by Basil Breakey and new sleeve notes by author Francis Gooding.

Ten years before the Brotherhood of Breath blew the cobwebs out of British jazz, Chris McGregor had already recorded as leader with a big band comprised of South Africa's leading jazz lights. Put together in 1963, the Castle Lager Big Band was a multi-racial group, a risky endeavour in apartheid South Africa. Modernist in outlook, and dedicated to showcasing South African composers, the 17-piece band featured a galaxy of South African jazz stars, including Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, and Kippie Moeketsi.

Though the band lasted only a few weeks and played a just a handful of shows, they made it into the studio to record. The result was Jazz - The African Sound, a unique masterpiece of afro-Ellingtonia that the band hoped would put South African jazz on the international map. But history intervened, and their jazz message to the world never arrived. Until now that is, and more than fifty years after it was first recorded, Jazz – The African Sound is finally back in print in a limited edition of 500 copies on Jazzman Records.