Bheki Mseleku
Bhekemuzi "Bheki" Mseleku (born March 3, 1955 in Durban , † September 9, 2008 in London ; full name: Bhekemuzi Hyacinth Mseleku ) was a South African jazz pianist and composer , as well as a guitarist , saxophonist and singer . Stylistically based on his compatriots Louis Moholo and Dudu Pukwana , he played a "gripping mixture of vital township music that had been stripped of all clichés and modal jazz " ( Wolf Kampmann ). In his piano playing he integrated influences from McCoy Tyner , Randy Weston and Abdullah Ibrahim .
Live and act
Mseleku, whose father and uncle William and Wilfred Mseleku led the then much-acclaimed vaudeville group Amanzimtoti Royal Players in the 1930s , was taught on his father's piano. He started his career as an organist in an R&B band and then went to Johannesburg in 1975 , where he played with the hard bop band The Drive before forming the group Spirits Rejoice with Sipho Gumede and Russell Herman . With Philip Tabane's formation "Malombo" he performed at the 1977 Newport Jazz Festival ; then he worked in Botswana with Hugh Masekela . In 1980 he first moved to Sweden, where he worked with Johnny Dyani and Don Cherry . During this time there was also collaboration with Abdullah Ibrahim and Chris McGregor . In 1985 he came to England ; on the mediation of Horace Silver he appeared in Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club . He has also worked with South Africans such as his former exiled guitarist Russell Herman and drummer Brian Abrahams, as well as Courtney Pine and Steve Williamson . In 1989 he temporarily withdrew from the music business to a Buddhist temple. His first record release under his own name appeared in 1991 and was nominated for the Mercury Prize . On this first album "Celebration" he was accompanied by Steve Williamson, Courtney Pine, Jean Toussaint and Marvin Smitty Smith . On his third album "Timelessness" (1994) guest musicians such as Joe Henderson , Pharoah Sanders , Elvin Jones and the singer Abbey Lincoln took part. With the later albums, according to Kampmann, he was "no longer able to match the level of his first two releases." In 1994 he returned to South Africa, but ultimately failed because he was able to make a living from his music there, so that he mainly worked as a music teacher and moved back to London in 2006.
Awards
- 1991: Nomination for the Mercury Prize (Album Celebration )
- 1996: KORA All Africa Music Award in the category Best Instrumentalist (Southern Africa)
Discography
- Celebration ( World Circuit , 1991)
- Meditations ( Verve Records , 1992)
- Timelessness (Verve, 1993)
- Star Seeding ( Polygram Records , 1995)
- Beauty of Sunrise (Polygram, 1997)
- Home at Last ( Sheer Sound , 2003)
Lexigraphic entries
- Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz music. 1700 artists and bands from the beginning until today. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-476-01584-X .
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Wolf Kampmann (Ed.), With the assistance of Ekkehard Jost : Reclams Jazzlexikon . Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-010528-5 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Bheki Mseleku in the catalog of the German National Library
- Obituary in The Independent
- Bheki Mseleku at Allmusic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Big Bands Database Plus: March 3, BIRTHDAYS , accessed August 14, 2008
- ↑ so Morton & Cook
- ↑ Max Mojapelo: Beyond Memory: Recording the history, Moments and Memories of South African Music , African Minds, 2009, ISBN 9781920299286 , p 289
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mseleku, Bheki |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mseleku, Bhekemuzi Hyacinth (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | South African jazz musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 3, 1955 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Durban |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 9, 2008 |
| Place of death | London |