Results for "Caiphus Semenya"

Caiphus Semenya

Caiphus Semenya - arranger, composer, bandleader, vocalist Caiphus Semenya is one of South Africa’s foremost musical directors and composers, dedicating a lifetime of work as a performer and arranger of African music. Semenya left South Africa in the 1960's, together with his wife, singer Letta Mbulu. Whilst in exile, he worked with compatriots Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, Hotep Galeta, and Miriam Makeba amongst many others. He subsequently took up residence in Los Angeles, where his talent resulted in work with the top range of American artists and producers, and saw his compositions being performed by Cannonball Adderley, Harry Belafonte, Herb Alpert, The Crusaders, Lou Rawls, and Nina Simone, amongst others. Most notable have been Semenya’s regular collaborations with Quincy Jones

The Paxton / Spangler Septet: Ugqozi

by Chris May
June 17, 2022

Ugqozi is a celebration of modern, urban African music, especially that from South Africa, with which co-leaders trombonist John “Tbone" Paxton and percussionist RJ Spangler have been in love for decades. It is also an affirmation of the vibrant Detroit scene of which the multi-generational Paxton / Spangler Septet is a part. Actually, ...

Township Jazz: Unlocking The Vaults

by Chris May
April 8, 2022

Britain is often said to be the first country to have forged a style of jazz distinct from its American parent, during the late 1950s, in part through the influence of London-based players from South Asia. Closer examination of calendars and the historical record, however, shows that South Africa found its own jazz voice at the ...

The South African Jazz Real Book Vol. 1

by Chris May
March 10, 2022

The South African Jazz Real Book Vol. 1 Jannie van Tonder & George Werner 166 Pages ISBN: 978-0-620-93506-7 Jazz.co.za 2021 In an age when songwriters are routinely defrauded by music streaming platforms--by every thieving one of them--you might think that another real book would be as welcome as ...

Various Artists: Indaba Is

by Chris May
January 9, 2021

There are probably several reasons why American jazz made the deep and lasting impact it did on South Africa in the 1950s. One may be that the colonial regime which was imposed on the country during Europe's pan-African nineteenth-century landgrab was among the most vicious of them all, and persisted the longest through the apartheid system ...

Sam Tshabalala: Returning Home

by Seton Hawkins
May 27, 2019

The late 1970s saw a surge of extraordinary musical creativity in South Africa. Driven in part by a changing political climate reflecting the youth-led Soweto uprising of 1976, a younger generation of South African artists harnessed the arts to give voice to a new chapter in the anti-apartheid struggle. Indeed, rising ensembles like Movement ...

Hugh Masekela: Masekela '66 - '76

by Chris May
May 11, 2019

Like his compatriot and close contemporary Abdullah Ibrahim, Hugh Masekela has a 24-carat discography which stretches back six decades and digs deep into the taproot of jazz. Ibrahim is still with us--he has a new album scheduled for June 2019--but Masekela passed in January 2018. Among the several solid Masekela compilations on the market, this 3-CD ...

The Best of Caiphus Semenya

By Caiphus Semenya

Label: Columbia Records
Released: 1998