Dennis Mpale - Our Boys Are Doing It (2025) [Hi-Res]

By the mid-1970s, trumpeter Dennis Mpale was a consummate musician with an auspicious resume that located him at all the key turning points in the evolution of modern South African jazz. In his mid-20s, he led the trumpet section of Chris McGregor’s Castle Lager Big Band and participated in the ensemble’s landmark 1963 album Jazz/The African Sound. 1968 saw him recording I Remember Nick with The Soul Giants, which joined a wave of notable late-1960s releases, including The Mankunku Quartet’s Yakhal' Inkomo and The Chris Schilder Quintet’s Spring, that ignited the ambitions of South African jazz artists and producers in the 1970s. In 1975, Mpale co-founded the “rock jazz” ensemble Roots, inaugurating the era of jazz fusion in South Africa and opening the door for Pacific Express and Spirits Rejoice.

By 1977, Mpale had earned the right to an album of his own and, having participated in the 1975 recording of Abdullah Ibrahim’s African Herbs, turned to producer Rashid Vally of the As-Shams/The Sun label for his solo debut. Vally financed the project and seized an opportunity to license it to the local subsidiary of a major international label. As such, Our Boys Are Doing It was issued in South Africa on the Mercury label in 1977. Featuring saxophone heavyweight Kippie Moketsi, the album was a response to the global direction taken by trumpeter Hugh Masekela on The Boy's Doin' It in 1975. In contrast, seeped in the bump jive style of popular urban township music, Our Boys Are Doing It was a manifesto for an authentic, exuberant, homegrown variety of South African jazz.

While solo releases often dispensed with collaborator credits, crediting “the boys” as the album’s backing group pointed towards a collectivist, albeit gendered, conception of South African jazz as a form of cultural production. Mpale was also interested in the title’s veiled reference to the underground armed resistance to Apartheid and he would go on to spend much of the 1980s as a political exile in Botswana. This said, musicians often worked incognito for contractual reasons and producer Rashid Vally himself obscured his involvement on the credits of the Mercury release of Our Boys Are Doing It to avoid any blowback from his regular distributor. While it is believed that “the boys” included the rhythm section of the album Tshona! with Pat Matshikiza on piano, Alec Khaoli on bass and Sipho Mabuse on drums, guitar and additional saxophone contributions remain subject to speculation.

We Are Busy Bodies’ 2025 edition of Our Boys Are Doing It is sourced from the original analog masters and restores the album to its rightful place as an essential part of the As-Shams/The Sun catalogue. This title is the final instalment of a ten-part reissue series that remembers and celebrates beloved figures in the story of South African jazz and honours the passion, work and legacy of label founder Rashid Vally, who passed away in December 2024.

Tracklist:
1-1 Dennis Mpale;Kippie Moketsi - Our Boys Are Doing It [19:33]
1-2 Dennis Mpale;Kippie Moketsi - Dennis Groove [10:04]
1-3 Dennis Mpale;Kippie Moketsi - Orlando [9:53]