In 1968 the "Mankunku Quartet" released the seminal album Yakhal' Inkomo and Winston “Mankunku” Ngozi began his journey to becoming a household name in South African jazz. The album title means in Xhosa "the bellowing bull", and refers to the stricken cry made by cattle as they go to slaughter. “The Bull” would be an appropriately powerful musical moniker for Mankunku, who is one of the most important figures in South Africa’s colourful jazz heritage - a man of significant talent but even greater humility who has been at the forefront of the creation of our jazz identity.

Winston Monwabisi “Mankunku” Ngozi was born in Retreat, Cape Town in 1943, with a strong Transkei family heritage. His musicality emerged early on and was carefully nurtured by his mother, Gertrude, and he took up saxophone in his mid teens. In the early 1960’s, the Ngozi family was uprooted from their home and relocated to Guguletu under the notorious Group Areas Act. By this time Mankunku was already gigging extensively and his early influences in Cape Town included Midge Pike, Parks Joya, ‘Cups and Saucers’ and Merton Barrow. But John Coltrane was perhaps his greatest source of inspiration and his respect and admiration for 'Trane' endured throughout his career.

Mankunku’s first release - Yakhal' Inkomo - has become one of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time in South Africa, re-released by Teal in 1975, 1985 and 1989, and since February 1996 available on CD though Polygram (SA). It was recorded with the Early Mabuza Trio and in the same year, he received the Castle Lager Jazz Musician of the Year Award. Despite this popularity and acclaim, though, Mankunku benefitted little financially – like many black musicians under apartheid, he had no contract and no royalty agreements on the recording and its subsequent massive sales.
 
His playing reflects a Coltrane-like power and flexibility on the tenor saxophone, with his sonorous, resonant tone instantly recognisable on any recording he has made. His lyrical lines soar above the ensemble and it is clear always that he has something important to say in a voice that stands out from those around him. His musical statements, though, are characterised by a tasteful sense of playing only what it is necessary to say, and by an intense sense of the ensemble.

Mankunku is one of the most copied saxophonists in South Africa and you will hear his inflections and licks in the playing of many of our leading professional players. There is a host of young players – especially in the Cape - who have grown up trying to emulate him. A number of his compositions have become part of the repertoire of South African jazz musicians, recognised as national “jazz standards”, and these tunes have been embraced by audiences and musicians alike and are heard in shebeens, school classrooms and concert halls across the country. Their power lies in their easy accessibility, but simultaneously in the depth of expression to which they lend themselves.

Mankunku’s choice to stay in South Africa and not to go into exile has been central to the establishment of his legacy in this country. He turned down numerous opportunities to perform with some of the world’s leading musicians in order to stay at home – for political and personal reasons. This meant that he has been an influential force amongst many of the young musicians who have grown up to forge the modern identity of South African jazz. This also meant, however, that he was subjected to the discrimination and indignity of apartheid legislation as well as the financial disadvantages black musicians suffered in South Africa.

Mankunku has been a political musician throughout his career, refusing to be bound by the constraints imposed on musicians by apartheid and playing with musicians no matter their race. The classic case of apartheid injustice is that of his performance with an all-white big band in the Cape Town City Hall in 1964, where, because a mixed-race band was unlawful, he (billed as “Winston Mann”) was forced to play behind a curtain so as to remain out of sight while a white musician mimed at the front. Even the title of his first album - Yakhal' Inkomo – refers to the angered cries of a nation suppressed. As he said: “I threw my pass away; wouldn’t carry it…I was always being arrested, and a lot of my friends. It was so tough for black people and I put that into the song, The Bellowing Bull for the black man’s pain. And people would come up to me and say quietly, ‘Don’t worry bra. We understand what you are playing about’.”

Mankunku has had a significant career in performance and recording, playing with most of South Africa’s top jazz musicians. His musical partners have ranged through the pantheon of jazz luminaries, with particularly fruitful recent collaborations with trumpeter Feya Faku and pianist Bheki Mseleku. Albums released in his own name have included Jika in 1987 with pianist Mike Perry, with whom he worked extensively; Dudula in 1996, again with Perry; Molo Africa in 1998, which won a SAMA; and Abantwana be Afrika, his latest release, which included the star-studded ensemble of Andile Yenana (piano), Herbie Tsoaeli (bass), Prince Lengoasa (trumpet) and Lulu Gontsana (drums).

With Mike Perry he founded his own label – Nkomo Records – which has become a significant independent producer of South African music of various styles. His international tours have included Britain, Sweden, Germany, Norway and Belgium (where Toots Thielemans joined him ostensibly for two numbers, but stayed the whole night), and a celebrated performance at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Netherlands. He has garnered awards and recognition, though arguably not as much as he deserves. His humility also led to him turning down opportunities that would have pushed him further into the limelight.

Mankunku passed away on 13 October 2009 at the age of 66 – a tragically early loss of one of South Africa’s national treasures. His name is etched literally in marble in the “Jazz Walk of Fame” in Newtown, Johannesburg, in recognition of a significant contributor to the beautiful music that is South African jazz.