Jun 13, 2010

the jazz epistles - jazz epistle verse 1

barabara sounds sez:
What a group, what a sound, what a classic! All the way from 1960 and it still has the power to get you up and moving! Dollar Brand (aka Abdullah Ibrahim), Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, Johnny Gertze, Makaya Ntshoko and Kippie "Morolong" Moeketsi. Listen and rejoice!

There's a great review of this album and the musicians — with some fantastic photos too — at Hub Pages.

The Jazz Epistles, whose core consisted of Brand, Kippie Moeketsi, Jonas Gwangwa and Masekela, had made the first South African recording by black musicians, Jazz Epistle: Verse 1, in 1959; they won first place at the first Cold Castle Jazz Festival two years later. But when given the chance to support the cast of the popular King Kong musical (in which Makeba was the female lead), they jumped on board to tour England. Curiously, less than 500 copies of Jazz Epistle were originally pressed, despite the group's overwhelming popularity. Subsequent reissues have made up for that.

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46 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 13, 2010 at 11:40 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. gilhodgesJune 13, 2010 at 12:49 PM

    An essential stone-cold classic. Anything with Kippie Moeketsi is a treasure. Thanks!

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  3. charlieJune 13, 2010 at 3:03 PM

    Nice one. Is DB/IA the most blogged jazz musician? Always good, mostly great.

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  4. BillJune 13, 2010 at 5:56 PM

    Sounds good! THANK YOU!

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  5. UnknownJune 13, 2010 at 10:10 PM

    Wow, this looks great - thanks!!

    DANNY

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  6. Mimi SoulJune 13, 2010 at 10:54 PM

    Wow ! That smell so good ! Thanks a lot

    Peace

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  7. UnknownJune 14, 2010 at 2:21 AM

    Wow! I'm such a big Abdullah Ibrahim fan and I didn't know about this one! thanks so much, as I anxiously await the download!Thanks, thanks, thanks!

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  8. taro nombeiJune 14, 2010 at 6:23 AM

    thanks for all the comments, always appreciate that feedback.

    now the next post will all depend on how Japan fares against Cameroon ;-)

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  9. Kostas from GreeceJune 14, 2010 at 6:18 PM

    Many,many thanks!!!

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  10. taro nombeiJune 14, 2010 at 9:33 PM

    @ Kostas from Greece
    You're very welcome. Commiserations on the result the other night!

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  11. AnonymousJune 15, 2010 at 2:38 AM

    Thank you, but the files don't seem to play... am I doing something wrong ?

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  12. AnonymousJune 15, 2010 at 2:44 AM

    Thank, but the files will not play.

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  13. taro nombeiJune 15, 2010 at 12:28 PM

    No problem for me. Anyone else?

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  14. AnonymousJune 15, 2010 at 11:01 PM

    reupped... hope this works better:

    http://www.mediafire.com/?lwt1wwmneme

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  15. AnonymousJune 17, 2010 at 12:15 AM

    Thanks very much for your efforts, but the problem remains with the re-upped files i.e. they still will not play nor can they be converted.

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  16. taro nombeiJune 17, 2010 at 2:02 AM

    @ anon
    the zip files unpack automatically and there you are with pristine mp3s.
    if that's not happening for you, then try some other extraction software. And if it's still not happening, never mind. There are plenty more posts coming down the tube very shortly.

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousJune 17, 2010 at 2:56 AM

    Thanks again taro nombei.
    Have tried with winzip, winrar & 7-zip, all to no avail.
    However all the files are m4a, not mp3's, so even after I've tried changing the extension after your above post, its stil the same and according to the metadata the files are 0 Kb.

    Still, many thanks for your efforts

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  18. taro nombeiJune 17, 2010 at 9:23 AM

    There's plenty of other extraction software. I use VLC when I face this issue in reverse. Keep seeking and you may find...

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  19. AndyJune 17, 2010 at 6:12 PM

    I use VLC but if it still won't open I use total recorder to convert it.Thanks for the album it looks a goodie.

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  20. roberto t.June 18, 2010 at 1:42 AM

    Thank you very much taro nombei! After the first link I thought I could only smell it, but with the second I can taste it. Great post, a piece of history!

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  21. AnonymousJune 20, 2010 at 2:38 AM

    How great to be able to hear this classic!
    Many thanks for this beautiful share.

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  22. AnonymousJune 21, 2010 at 3:31 AM

    Thanks! Great post and a great blog but it says file is private and does not let me access it.

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  23. taro nombeiJune 21, 2010 at 12:07 PM

    @ Andy, roberto t. & porco
    glad you like it!

    @ anon
    the file was reupped. check out the comment about 8 or 9 above this one!

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  24. jojoJune 22, 2010 at 2:12 AM

    Hi Taro Nombei,
    I am the original Anon from a few posts above who could not get the files to play and now see that I am not the only one to have trouble with them.Does anybody else have comments who have been able hear them play. (total recorder is not freeware, by the way)

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  25. jojo AKA anonJune 22, 2010 at 2:55 AM

    Dear Taro Nombei,
    I have found the answer (the clue being in your latest post)...I did not have an M4a lossless codec installed. Did so, & now all is well... hope this helps others.
    Finally, many, Many Thanks for this wonderful post & for putting up with my ignorance.
    Great Music !!

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  26. boogiemanJune 22, 2010 at 6:47 AM

    Absolute classic. I bought it in Jo'Burg Airport some ten years ago - and a few others incl. Jazz Offerings and the King Kong soundtrack. There is/was a recordshop in the airport with an excellent selection of SA Jazz. I hasd time to kill and the young vendor was very enthusiastic. Must have bought close to a dozen CD there. Unfortunately I haven't been in that part of the world for a while so I can't tell you if the shop is still there. I have a few rips on my harddrive, I'll see if I can post'em. Cheers

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  27. taro nombeiJune 22, 2010 at 5:25 PM

    @ boogieman
    I totally agree.
    Most of these albums are OOP (afaik). These rips are from the CD reissues on Celuloid. No idea if they're still out there in S.Africa.
    I've got a couple more to post in this series — they'd have been up there already if my computer hadn't died last week. But if you have any more, do let me know.
    cheers

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  28. ArkadinJune 29, 2010 at 10:55 PM

    Thanks for this classic which I didn't know (yeah, it's embarrassing) and good luck to your team - I keep my fingers crossed for Japan!

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  29. taro nombeiJune 30, 2010 at 2:41 AM

    @ Arkadin

    cheers brother...
    and thanks for the fingers crossed... in the end though it ended :'-(

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  30. ryanbJuly 29, 2010 at 2:51 PM

    thank you!!!

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  31. taro nombeiJuly 30, 2010 at 12:05 AM

    @ ryanb
    yer welcome

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  32. UnknownAugust 10, 2010 at 1:37 PM

    been looking for The Epistle for so long. very grateful to find this. thx for sharing.

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  33. taro nombeiAugust 10, 2010 at 5:50 PM

    @ rahmad

    you're welcome. glad you're glad ;-)

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  34. AnonymousAugust 30, 2010 at 5:06 PM

    It's look like a really interesting album. Unfurtunatly it i can't download it because the file is set to private. (When a file is set to private by its owner only the owner of the file can access it.) ?! Thanks

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  35. taro nombeiAugust 30, 2010 at 9:55 PM

    @ Anon

    Try reading through the thread of comments above.

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  36. Rhythm ChangesJanuary 31, 2011 at 7:04 AM

    This stuff is eye-popping. Thank you.

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  37. taro nombeiJanuary 31, 2011 at 11:44 AM

    @ Rhythm Changes
    thanks for dropping by — glad you're digging down into the vaults here :-)

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  38. kokoloFebruary 14, 2011 at 9:14 PM

    Thank you very much!

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  39. EricAugust 19, 2011 at 9:08 AM

    I tried to download this intriguing offering and got a message that the download is set to private. Is this download available? If I ask real nicely?? Please and Thank you.

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  40. taro nombeiAugust 19, 2011 at 5:59 PM

    @ Eric
    seek and you will find...
    clue: the 14th comment down
    (and sorry I didn't take down the initial link)

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  41. AnonymousAugust 19, 2011 at 6:11 PM

    OK, to make things easier , here's the re-up link:

    http://www.mediafire.com/?lwt1wwmneme

    your epistles (and even comments) gratefully accepted...

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  42. PeterNovember 22, 2011 at 10:44 PM

    Mmmmm ... looks good.

    Surely they meant Jazz Apostles, though ..? :D

    Thank you!

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  43. taro nombeiNovember 23, 2011 at 12:59 AM

    @ Peter
    Maybe they saw themselves as the message, not the messengers.
    cheers!

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  44. AnonymousOctober 4, 2013 at 12:28 AM

    Could you repost this, please - the Mediafire link is dead. Would be appreciated - but thank you, whether you can or not.

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  45. taro nombeiOctober 4, 2013 at 4:39 PM

    @ Anonymous

    OK I'll need to dig this (and the other one) up from the vaults.
    Hopefully it won't take me too long.
    Keep checking back...

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  46. ndhjazzJanuary 12, 2014 at 3:27 PM

    Can anyone please re-up this one?

    Thanks,
    -ndhjazz-

    ReplyDelete