Author: Mr_K
Date: 2014-10-09 12:08
For a moment there, I thought Audacity must be someone on the forum, but yes, the audacity of hope, it would be wonderful to hear some of this music. I am also sure if someone were to dig around the SABC archives, they would find some recordings of live symphony broadcasts featuring Mario Trinchero.
Liquorice, any more stories you have, I'm sure we would all love to hear. The way you write them is very amusing. I like your phrase, "a relaxed glint".
I have also been trying to find some clarinet recordings of Kippie Moeketsi to show how special he was. This is the best I can find for now, a very simple little street kwela (township jive) tune with minimal backing, called Clarinet Kwela. It's a very basic version of the tune, but you can hear how he projects his sound.
The composition I've been trying to find is called Scullery Department, which to my mind is just the funniest jazz tune in the history of the book. I said this to the BBC jazz programme in 1993, while making a special request, I'm not sure if they ever played it. Now that I've had time to think about it, I literally cannot think of another tune that is even in its category, let a lone a real contender. You have to start going back to Teddy Bears' Picnic for anything like it.
There is a story that goes with it, as there so often is with Kippie's music. In those days, black musicians were not allowed to use any change rooms in clubs, or in fact be legally anywhere on the premises, so they were often banished to the kitchen. Sometimes they would have to pretend to be scullery staff if there was a raid. So this is the reference for Kippie's tune. It would make a wonderful backing track for a comedy short, the changes of pace are perfect.
Kippie was very bitter about this kind of treatment, but the way he resolved it -- in an absolute masterpiece of a light-hearted piece -- is just in a class all of its own.
There are recordings for sale on the web, but I seem to have found a previously unreleased version of Scullery Department -- seem to have, because it is very cleverly zipped up in a .rar file, which is something I have never heard of until now. Another case for Audacity? This was available on the Mediashare tab on this Electric Jive web page. I still need to find the software to open it, so I can't vouch for anything. It's a big file, took a while to download here.
But if anyone manages to listen to this tune, one way or another, you can tell me any competitors it might have, for a purely instrumental absolute killer comedy piece.
All the best
Mr_K
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The Clarinet BBoard
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