Shabaka Hutchings from the UK recently toured here with his South African outfit Shabaka and the Ancestors. Photo: supplied
We know the start of the story. South African jazz musicians arrived in London in February 1961 for the first overseas run of Todd Matshikiza’s jazz opera King Kong. While metropolitan theatre critics were sniffy (“frankly erotic … strongly if seldom melodiously sung”, opined The Times), audiences instantly warmed to the show.
Enthusiastic, long-lived jamming partnerships developed between off-duty…
