Movement In The City - 1981 - Black Teardrops

Movement In The City

1981

Black Teardrops

01. Lament 13:32

02. Black Teardrops 07:24

03. Seagull 05:46

04. Camel Walk 13:59

'Pops' M. Ismail - keyboards

Basil Manenberg Coetzee - tenor sax, flute

Robbie Jansen - alto sax, flute

Sipho Gumede - bass guitar

Roger Harry - drums

Flute on "Camel Walk" – Basil Coetzee

Bass on "Camel Walk" – Peter Odendaal

Drums on "Camel Walk" – Monty Weber

1981 South African Soul-Funk-Jazz by the creator of the Black Disco albums. As underground jazz fermented in the social and political powder keg of early-80s South Africa, composer and bandleader Pops Mohamed retired the Black Disco moniker in favour of Movement in the City. The group's second offering under their new name yielded one of the most treasured releases in the As-Shams/The Sun catalogue by way of Black Teardrops, a singular blend of down-tempo and atmospheric South African rare groove featuring Dollar Brand saxophonist Basil "Mannenberg" Coetzee and bass wizard Sipho Gumede.

A really sweet electric set from the South African scene – long tracks that are overflowing with great saxophone and keyboard solos – played here by a really top-shelf group! The sound's a bit like a more relaxed take on territory from CTI – with the keyboards from Pops Ismail at the core, next to electric bass that's nice and slow-stepping from Sipho Gumede – while Basil Manenberg Coetzee solos and tenor, and Robbie Jansen handles both alto and flute! The lineup shifts a bit on one track – with Coetzee shifting to flute, and Ismail picking up some guitar next to the keyboards – but there's a wonderfully unified flow to the record, a warm sweet groove throughout.

Movement In The City - 1979 - Movement In The City

Movement In The City

1979

Movement In The City

01. Mister Lucky 08:54

02. Movement in the City 07:11

03. Country Movement 05:45

04. Jackie 07:17

05. Blue Sunday 04:58

Pops Mohamed - (organ, electric piano, piano)

Basil Coetzee - (saxes)

Sipho Gumede - (bass)

Gilbert Matthews - (drums)

Peter Odendaal - (bass on B3)

Monty Weber - (drums on B3)

As the 1970s were drawing to a close, the epic Black Disco studio project with its signature pairing of drum machine and organ had run its course. After delivering a killer trilogy of cosmic lounge outings dating back to 1975, the group yearned for funkier grooves and the core trio of composer Pops Mohamed on organ with Basil Coetzee on tenor sax and Sipho Gumede on bass decided to hire a drummer and rebrand as Movement in the City.

In contrast with the New Age detachment of Black Disco, Movement in the City was conceptually grounded in the bleak social realism depicted on its photographic album covers and leaned into the vivid sensibilities of library music from the era. Blending Cape jazz with funk and soul, the group's output evokes a soundtrack for South African city life at the outset of the 1980s while nodding allegorically to the subterranean movements that were in the course of shaking the cage for political change.

With its cast of jazz fusion all-stars, Movement in the City is the manifesto of a band in transition - a bold and slick first offering that delivers a modern South African sound capable of both the funky exuberances of "Mister Lucky" as well as the down-home pathos of "Blue Sunday."

Black Disco - 1976 - Night Express

Black Disco

1976

Night Express

01. Yasmeen's Blues 04:51
02. Night Express 11:20
03. Super Natural Love 04:28
04. Oh Happy Day 06:54
05. Echo on the Delay 04:49
06. Odds On 07:21

Organ - Pops Mohamed
Tenor Sax & Flute - Basil Coetzee
Bass - Sipho Gumede
Drums - Peter Morake

Pops Mohamed leaned heavily on his Yamaha Electone's "auto rhythm section" to produce the Timmy Thomas-inspired signature drum machine sound that characterised Black Disco's 1975 self-titled debut. Following in 1976, Night Express took the group to new heights with the inclusion of drummer Peter Morake (Abdullah Ibrahim/Roots) on most of the tracks. In addition to Mohamed on organ, founding members Sipho Gumede (bass) and Basil Coetzee (sax/flute) round out the Black Disco sound with memorable original compositions and a smattering of unique takes on unlikely covers. The result is an album more deeply rooted in South African jazz sensibilities with a title track that has become one of the most widely admired artefacts of downbeat 1970s Afro-funk.

Black Disco - 1975 - Black Disco

Black Disco

1975

Black Disco

01. Spiritual Feel 6:10

02. Pops Blue 2:57

03. I'm Organized 6:20

04. Dark Clouds (Part 1) 3:15

05. Dark Clouds (Part 2) 6:10

06. My Girl 7:50

07. Ain't No Sunshine 3:05

Bass – Sipho Gumede

Flute, Tenor Saxophone – Basil Coetzee

Organ – (Pops) Mohammed Ismail

SPIRITUAL FEEL

Lonely night

Early dawn slow and sombre

There's one thing.

Hear deep in to your

Spirit not on the surface

Above all there's only

HIM

HE IS THE SPIRITUAL FEEL

Black Disco were a South African Afro-jazz/funk band that released three albums on The Sun (الشمس) label between 1975 and 1976. The band’s second album, Night Express, has gained a cult audience since its 2016 reissue on Matsuli Music. Included in the lineup was Dollar Brand saxist Basil Coetzee, who played concurrently in Pacific Express.

With a Yamaha organ and a dream, Pops Mohamed started his musical journey in the mid-1970s as the bandleader and composer of Black Disco, creating a hip melange of chill-out jazz with futuristic drum machine sounds and spiritual overtones. His cosmic organ transmissions were accompanied by two of the most sought-after session players on the South African scene, the sax and flute wizard Basil Coetzee, who had risen to fame in 1974 as one of the soloists on the hit “Mannenberg,” and Sipho Gumede, the young bass prodigy who was already rubbing shoulders with the old guard at the outset of his career. Backed at first with polyphonic beats from Mohamed’s electric organ and later taking on a drummer, Black Disco created a signature sound and a trilogy of innovative albums in a burst of studio creativity between 1975 and 1976.

The core of Coetzee, Pops Mohamed, and Sipho Gumede followed up Black Disco with the jazz sextet Movement in the City. Gumede simultaneously appeared in the jazz-funk septet Spirits Rejoice and later emerged in Sakhile. Mohamed became a prolific solo artist during the 1990s. Meanwhile, Monty Weber played on several late-’70s albums by Dollar Brand.