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SHEETMUSIC: ANTHOLOGIES/COLLECTIONS
SHEETMUSIC: ARRANGEMENTS
South African Jazz: SHEETMUSIC: ANTHOLOGIES/COLLECTIONS
A new publication, first of its kind, containing over 30 lead sheets with melody and chords, of tunes connected to Cape Town, including works by Jonathan Butler, McCoy Mrubata, Paul Hanmer, Winston Mankunku, Errol Dyers, Tony Schilder, Basil Coetzee, Morris Goldberg, Mac Makenzie, Robbie Jansen, Ezra Ngcukana and Hilton Schilder.

Colin Miller, the editor of the Cape Jazz Song Book, studied jazz at the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town. He is Project Manager at the Swiss Arts Council's Pro Helvetia in South Africa, with special focus on music and literature projects. He is involved with the documentation and collection of oral histories at the Cape Town District Six Museum sound archives.
 
South African Jazz: SHEETMUSIC: ARRANGEMENTS
An up-tempo salsa big band barn-stormer, with 2-3 clave rhythm, featuring piano & trumpet soloists, and ideal for an extended drums & percussion break. Featured on the Hanepoot Big Band CD 'Salt & Vinegar'.
A infectious Goema ballad, over a mellow grooving version of the famous Cape Town beat. Douglas Armstrong is a composer of note, producing regular additions to the repertoire of the Hanepoot Big Band. This is the opening number on their debut CD. Tbn, Tpt, Pno solos.
 
A beautiful fat and mellow Mingus-kind-of medium blues by Cape Town's top big band composer/arranger the legendary Merton Barrow, with fat voicings for all sections of the big-band featuring tenor, alto, trumpet, bass, guitar & piano solos, and lots of room to showcase drums as well. Not a hard piece to play, but one that time can be spent on achieving precise phrasing & dynamics showcasing the full big band sound.
Another very popular tune, goes down extremely well with audiences -- uppish-tempo Goema in G Major from this respected Cape Jazz composer, which once it gets going seems to be over much to quickly. Lead voice scored for 1st Alto/Tpt/Tbn but could really be played by anybody, originally a guitar line (in E). Solos open, with soli sections in brass & saxes. Intermediary level, not technically difficult at all, but timing a bit tricky at tempo. "Langery" means "long row" and refers to a row of similar houses in the street where Errol Dyers lives. Errol is credited together with Robbie Jansen and Basil Coetzee with bringing the cape carnival or 'goema' sound of the street bands into the mainstream of Cape Jazz during the 'struggle' years when a lot of musicians went into exile, and it was left to the mainstays to develop the music at home.
 
Very popular marabi-swing style groover. Henepoot & the Biggish Band opened their set with this tune for several years. Introduciton features 2 or 4 lead voices (2 saxes, 1tpt, 1 tbn) acapella against background stabs, into a sexy marabi riff featuring 4 saxes in 2-part harmony, joined by 1 tpt & 1 tbn for the bridge. Scored with tenor sax & trumpet solos. Recorded by Hanepoot & the Biggish Band
 
A gentle marabi gem by the master of this genre. Some controversy arose over this tune composed & recorded by Zakes Nkosi in 1960. In 1974 Dollar Brand recorded his very popular 'Manenberg' with Basil Coetzee, after returning from overseas and spending time in Johannesburg among the local black jazz musicians. Some musicians were convinced that Brand's Manenberg is just a slowed down version of Jackpot, and indeed the theme is very similar. This arrangement is based on the original 1960 recording, ideally performed with a sedate groove more like that of the original Manenberg recording, however this is up to the rhythm section to decide. Could be performed entirely 'straight' or, like often is the case with marabi, with the horns swinging ever so slightly over a straight groove.
 
The first tune ever written by Zakes Nkosi, recorded by the Ntemi Piliso and the African Jazz Pioneers, this new big band arrangement regularly performed by Hanepoot & the Biggish Band -- a more up-tempo number, and crowd favorite. Open solo sections with backing.
 
Originally recorded in the 60's by Zakes Nkosi & his 'City Jazz Nine', and again 20 years later by the 12-piece African Jazz Pioneers, this full big band arrangement is regularly performed by the Hanepoot Big Band -- it is an absolute classic by one of the great composers of Marabi music. Medium tempo straight groove, 1 lead horn solo, and space for 2 bar instrumental solo breaks passed around the band.
Written for Christopher Columbus 'Mra' Ngcukana, father of some of Cape Town's jazz stalwarts, Ezra and Duke, this is a 'war song' or 'mzabalazo', some say it contains some of Mra's own riffs. This arrangement is basically a more structured version (and then for full bigband) of the one recorded by Chris McGregor's 'Brotherhood of Breath' on the live album 'Travelling Somewhere'. Featured on that recording are some of the original Blue Notes who went into exile with McGregor in the early 1960's including Pukwana on alto sax, Mongezi Feza on trumpet and Louis Moholo on drums. 'Mra' is short for the South Africanism 'My Bra' which in turn is a hip version of 'My Brother'.
 
'Ntyilo Ntyilo' (Xhosa: Little Bird) is a true South African classic, one a small group of 'evergreens' that any local artist with jazz pretensions must include in their repertoire. It was written by Alan Silinga expressly for Miriam Makeba who first recorded it with the Manhattan Brothers in 1954. Miriam's solo rendition on her first American album in 1960 put it on the world map and since that time many other versions have been cut by artists as diverse as Hugh Masekela, Pharoah Sanders and on this CD, Dolly Rathebe. As for the song's meaning, composer Silinga can only say that it is about a bird singing sweetly and inviting the listener to "that happier place" called heaven.

This arrangement by Prof. Mike Campbell, head of jazz at University of Cape Town.
 
 


The Biggish Band:
Saxes: Didier Richards, John Ntshibilikwana, Chris Tokalon, Charl Clayton, Nick Green
Trumpets: Douglas Armstrong, Muneeb Hermans, Siraaj Allen, Lee Thomson
Trombones: Andrew O'Donoghue, Stephen Sokuyeka, Matthew Willis, Jasper Cook
Rhythm (gt, pno, bs, dms, perc): Bruce Muirhead, George Werner, Sidney McKinnon, Simon Annett
 
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