Allen Kwela - 1975 - Black Beauty

Allen Kwela

1975

Black Beauty

01. Black Beauty 7:03
02. Mild Storm 8:08
03. Qaphela 6:45
04. Willow Vale 10:35

sax: Kippie Moeketsi
sax: Barney Rachabane
trumpet: Dennis Mpale
drums: Gilbert Matthews
bass: Sipho Gumede
guitar: Allen Kwela

'The cream of Johannesburg’s jazz musicians gathered at state-of-the-art Satbel studios to create Black Beauty for the “Soweto” label. Led by guitarist extraordinaire Allen Kwela and featuring the godfather of South African jazz Kippie Moeketsi, the album successfully straddles producer pressure to emulate the commercial success of Abdullah Ibrahim’s Mannenberg, against the musicians’ own impetus to play a jazz they wanted. While the title track “Black Beauty” nods at Ibrahim’s stylings, the magic happens in the three remaining tracks where Kwela and his top-notch band lay down new directions.

Producer Patric van Blerk, sounded disappointed when asked about the sessions, saying that Kwela was his usual strong-willed self, unwilling to be nudged towards the pop trends of the day. “He was a monster talent and deserved much more than he got at the time.”

Recorded in one day in 1975 in Johannesburg’s Satbel Studios and released that year on the Soweto label, guitarist and composer Allen Kwela’s ‘Black Beauty’ is a thrillingly accomplished album that more than testifies to the assuredness of African jazz from that era and beyond.

Although exact recording details are sketchy, four extremely strong original tunes are played by an octet of musicians said to include the legendary alto sax player – and Abdullah Ibrahim collaborator – Kippie Moeketsi, alongside fellow saxophonist Barney Rachabane, trumpeter Dennis Mpale and drummer Gilbert Matthews, among others

While Kwela – who, born in 1939, hailed from Natal, made his name in Durban and died of an apparent asthma attack in 2003 – has been described as the Wes Montgomery of South African jazz, there’s more kinship with George Benson here, especially on the opening track of Side 2, Quaphela, whose chiming, bell-like tone in the solo anticipates the iconic smooth-strut of Benson’s ‘Breezin’’. The thick, chunky chordal flow, alternating rhythm and lead, can also call to mind the Jamaican master Ernest Ranglin, and the percussive effects of the late great South African guitarist-in-exile Lucky Madumetja Ranku.

But what is most impressive about Black Beauty is how fully-rounded the whole album is. There’s the hard-won grace of the very separate and distinctive tunes, where a funky and sometimes danceable township style shares space with memorable jazz themes, spirited ensemble playing and – as if he’s conducting from the back – the chugging guitar of Allen Kwela, keeping everything bubbling along and imposing itself only when necessary. It’s all good, but the title track has it all: a delicate solo guitar intro on a catchy folk melody that then provides a call and response for the band, with Kwela playing clustered repetitions of the theme against trumpet and sax solos before attacking the melody himself in a bluesy showcase of his solo chops. There’s a Hammond organ in there somewhere too.

A South African jazz session from the 70s, but one with a bit of a twist – as the instrumentation here is a bit larger than on some of the smaller combo sets of the time – in a way that gives guitarist Allen Kwela a really full, rich sort of backing! Kwela's solos are nicely laidback, and build strongly as the tunes stretch out – never really to be as tight or precise as a player like George Benson, even though he shares a similar sense of color – and with maybe some of the airiness of Sonny Greenwich at times. The set's filled with work from other all-star musicians – including Kippie Moeketsi and Barney Rachabane on saxes, Dennis Mpale on trumpet, and Sipho Gumede on bass.