Zacks Nkosi

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Isaac Zacks Nkosi (* 1919 in Alexandra near Johannesburg ; † 1978 ) was a South African jazz and mbaqanga musician ( alto saxophone ) who wrote numerous songs and is counted among the most important jazz musicians in the country for the 1950s and 1960s.

Live and act

Nkosi initially played piano and organ; soon the accordion was added. He received his first saxophone from his sister at the age of 15 and was soon performing with the Havana Group . He then worked with the Blue Diamond Jazz Band before joining the Jazz Maniacs led by Solomon Zuluboy Cele in 1940 . In the late 1940s he also performed with King Force Silgee's Jazz Forces . From 1950 he belonged to the African Swingsters (under the direction of Ellison Temba), with whom he recorded his Swazi Stomp in 1952.

In the mid-1950s, in addition to his sextet, Nkosi also directed the City Jazz Nine with which he recorded between 1956 and 1964 (released as an LP under the title Our Kind of Jazz in 1964). He then also worked as a producer for EMI. His compositions have also been recorded by kwela groups and vocal groups such as the Midnite Harmoneers and in 1961 by the Bogard Brothers. In 1975 he recorded two more albums with Barney Rachabane , Sipho Gumede , Jackie Schilder and other musicians. One of them, Our Kind of Jazz '77 , was reissued in 1984 under the title A Tribute to Zack Nkosi: Our Kind of Jazz Vol 1 .

meaning

Nkosi is one of the nine South African musicians honored on the Pioneering Spirits Walk of Fame in Newtown (Johannesburg) . Posthumously he received the Siyabakhumbula Prize. Keyboardist Jabu Nkosi, his son, presented the tribute album Remembering Bra Zacks in 1997 ; Marcus Wyatt commemorated his merits with the album Africans in Space (2002).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ as another year of birth is given as 1918 with the place of birth Ingogo ; partly also found in 1925.
  2. ↑ April 5, 1980 is given as another date of death.
  3. ↑ a b Max Mojapelo Beyond Memory: Recording the history, Moments and Memories of South African Music Somerset 2009, p 254
  4. ↑ Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham, Jon Lusk The Rough Guide to World Music: Africa & Middle East Rough Guides: London, 2006, p. 354
  5. ^ Zack Nkosi Our Kind of Jazz
  6. ↑ Zack Nkosi Our Kind of Jazz Vol. 1
personal data
SURNAME Nkosi, Zacks
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nkosi, Isaac Zacks (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African jazz and entertainment musician
DATE OF BIRTH 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Alexandra near Johannesburg
DATE OF DEATH 1978