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Kippie Moeketsi
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Kippie Moeketsi, in full Jeremiah Morolong Moeketsi, was a South African jazz musician and alto saxophonist. He was born in 1925 into a musical family in Johannesburg and was the youngest of eleven brothers. Almost all of them played an instrument, and a sister worked as a nurse. His nickname comes from his mother, who called through the street to find him, as if he were a chicken. At twenty he began on clarinet, but soon switched to saxophone. His brother, the pianist Jacob Moeketsi, was a model.
Music and breakthrough
His career began in shebeens, with his group Band in Blue. He played in several bands, including the Shantytown Sextet, the Harlem Swingsters and above all the Jazz Epistles, which made him, Abdullah Ibrahim, then still Dollar Brand, Jonas Gwangwa and Hugh Masekela known. He was sometimes called the father of South African jazz and the Charlie Parker of South Africa. Ibrahim wrote the composition Bra Joe from Kilimanjaro for him. He played in Todd Matshikiza's musical King Kong, which took him to London in 1961. After the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 most of his contemporaries went into exile, but he returned. Under the oppressive conditions he did not play for four years.
Influence
He can be heard on records such as Dollar Brand + 3 (1973) and Tshona! (1975). He died in 1983, destitute. His influence on Ibrahim, Masekela, Miriam Makeba and Gwangwa was great, and the jazz club Kippies in the Market Theatre in Johannesburg is named after him.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1973Dollar Brand + 3
- 1975Tshona!
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- After Hours: Session 3NL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- South African jazz Genre
In 1959, the pianist Dollar Brand (later Abdullah Ibrahim), the alto saxophonist Kippie Moeketsi and the trumpeter Hugh Masekela formed The Jazz Epistles, the country's first Black bebop group with an LP of its own.