Bassist and composer Sipho Gumede's self-produced solo album from 1991, Banana City Jive was the fourth recording issued by Kalamazoo Productions, the Sun Music imprint created for Pops Mohamed's Kalamazoo EP, which both featured and was co-produced by Gumede in 1990.
The importance of Sipho Gumede (1952-2004) in the As-Shams/The Sun catalogue cannot be overstated. As a session player, he appears on classic 1970s recordings by label heavyweights Dollar Brand, Kippie Moeketsi, Pat Matshikiza and Tete Mbambisa. He was also an integral member of Pops Mohamed's Black Disco and Movement in the City recording ventures. But As-Shams alone couldn't contain his creative zeal. As a band member and composer, he made vital contributions to the epic 1970s and 1980s South African jazz constellations Roots, Spirits Rejoice and Sakhile.
It wasn't until the mid-1980s that Sipho Gumede stepped into the shoes of a solo recording artist and it is over the course of the 1990s that he left an indelible mark on South African music, courting even the mainstream with his sophisticated and modern African jazz sound. Having worked together since 1975, Banana City Jive provided a welcome opportunity for Sun Music label director Rashid Vally to get behind a fully-fledged Gumede offering for the first time. Notable contributors to this effort were Sakhile bandmate Khaya Mahalngu on soprano sax, rising star McCoy Mrubata on tenor and As-Shams/The Sun veteran Themba Mokoena on guitar.
Recorded and mastered on quarter-inch tape and issued only on vinyl, Banana City Jive is among the last South African jazz artefacts of the analog era and part of a body of works created during an period of political, social and technological transition that announced a new set of aesthetics for South African jazz in the 1990s.
KHAYA MAHLANGU – Soprano Sax
MZI KHUMALO – Alto Sax
McCOY MRUBATA – Tenor Sax
SIPHO GUMEDE – Bass
BABA THEMBA MOKOENA – Guitar
BARNEY BOPHELA – Keyboards
KWAZI SHANGE – Drums
Recorded by FELANI GUMBI
Mixed by FELANI GUMBI & SIPHO GUMEDE at HIT CITY STUDIOS
Produced by Sipho Gumede for KALAMAZOO PRODUCTIONS
Executive Producers: RASHID VALLY & EIRFAAN GILLAN
Cat. No. KMH 1004
℗ 1991 Sun Music Group
