These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Mamazala was recorded live with "Gathering Forces", a more recent formulation of a band concept I started in the US in the 70s.Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. I hope that someday all of his compositions will be collected and heard. On the road to anywhere with Sandy was always a 'trip' and we certainly paid dues on all sorts of gigs in South Africa, Swaziland and Namibia. Sandy died in a traffic accident outside a Durban jazz club in 2004 and I believe that this track and Sad Song are his last recordings. Sandile and I played his lullaby Nombelelo during a guitar/piano duo set that was broadcast throughout Europe from the Platinum Club during the 1987 Montreux Jazz Festival. Of course many of them are represented on this compilation Pat, Duke, Zim Ngqawana, Lulu Gontsana and Lex Futshane. The tune is well liked wherever I've taken it and reminds me of all the musicians I've admired and played with from the Eastern Cape. Tshona is Pat Matchikiza's big hit and I associate it with good times at the legendary Rainbow Restaurant & Jazz Club in Pinetown established by Ben Pretorius. The band 'ACC' was originally formed as a trio with Victor Ntoni and Lulu Gontsana in 1989 and we played at the very first Grahamstown Jazz Festival as both a headliner band with Duke, as well as a house rhythm section backing soloists such as Barney Rachabane, Winston Mankunku, Johnny Fourie and Donald Tshomela. Duke appeared with the earliest "Afro-Cool Concept", which performed all over South Africa and travelled by bus to Harare with Sakhile and Steve Newman to play at a major jazz festival there. Years Ago is a wistful, beautiful ballad by Duke Makasi that I still play. This version by Afro-Cool Concept is from Still On My Mind (2003) and my wife, Cathy took the photo that appears on the back all those years ago. Composed in Connecticut as Winter Dreams, I changed the title when on a sunny ride through the lovely hills and cane fields of KwaZulu-Natal, we came across the Tugela Rail siding and trading store. Gabriel "Mabi" Thobejani (percussion), Nelson Magwaza (drums) and Barney Rachabane, completed the studio band. I drove up to Joburg with Sandile Shange (guitar) and Marc Duby (bass) who were both in the first band I put together in Durban when I joined the music department at the University of Natal (now University of KwaZulu-Natal). A vinyl 'maxi-single' of Tugela Rail was my first South African recording, made back in 1983 and long out of print. (see notes on each track below.) Titles: Tugela Rail, Years Ago, Tshona, Nombelelo, Mamazala, Sad Song, Kwela Mama, Lakutshoni'langa, Daveyton Special 1. The oldest come from an NPR recording made at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1990 and the most recent (the two with guitarist Sandile Shange)were studio recordings made in 2003. The 'other tracks' refered to in the title are, in effect, tributes to some of the local jazz musicians who were bandstand colleagues and friends for a substantial period of my life - nearly a quarter of a century from 1983 to 2005. (Full details are available at .) 'Tugela Rail' and 'Daveyton Special' are the only self-composed 'originals' on this CD. of KwaZuku-Natal) in Durban, formed the Centre for Jazz & Popular Music (1989) and remained Director until I retired from that job in 2005. I taught jazz at the University of Natal (later U. My groups toured internationally and of course played most of the major and minor festivals and clubs in South Africa. but why not buy it here and now? ORIGINAL ALBUM NOTES: TUGELA RAIL AND OTHER TRACKS This is a collection of well-known South African jazz numbers I often performed with these famous South African musicians. ADDITIONAL SPECIAL NOTE: The fact that you are reading this shows you are interested, so it is only fair to mention that this album is 10 years old, only a few unsold copies are left and when it's gone, it's gone.