Big Voice Jack Lerole

A highlight of the Dave Matthews Band's concert at Giants Stadium, during the summer of 1998, was guest pennywhistle player, Big Voice Jack Lerole (born: Aaron Jack Lerole). Although a reporter for Newsweek raved that, "the group brought a South African pennywhistle player onstage and seamlessly backed him as he trilled some buoyant Township jive," few in the audience realized the impact Lerole has had on South Africa's music. Having honed his craft as a street musician in the Alexander Township, during the 1950s, Lerole helped to develop the influential musical style of kwela. Signed by EMI in 1956, Lerole recorded with a variety of groups including the Alexander Shamba Boys, which he co-led with his brother Elias, Black Mambazo, and Elias & His Zig Zag Fluters, with whom he recorded the theme song of the popular British television series, The Killing Stones. Lerole's soundtrack for the show, initially released in 1957, sold more than three million copies. His breakthrough as a solo performer was the single, "Blues Ngaphansai." According to Zig Zag Magazine, "When (Lerole) plays, like an ancient gnome with the fingers of a frog, round spatula tips flying over a worn silver pennywhistle, the sweetest sounds pour forth." Lerole's innovative use of the bellowing ultra-bass style of singing that became known as "groaning" eventually took its toll and his voice lost its rich quality. His influence began to additionally fade when the popularity of kwela diminished during the early-1960s and Lerole and Black Mambazo switched to the saxophone-dominated style that became known as "mbaqanga". He continued to record, however, and produced such hits as "Cherry Beat," "Big Voice Jack," "Tully La Fluter" and "Bongo Twang Jive." During the 1970s, Lerole experienced a revival during the bump jive era and toured in a leading role with several South African musical productions. Lerole resumed his collaboration with Black Mambazo, in the early-1990s, when the group reunited for a documentary film produced by Chris du Plessis. The band has remained together. Lerole also continues to perform with his own group, The Shukuma Mambazo All Stars. An album, Colours And Moods was recorded during a concert at the Bassline in Johannesburg in 1998.
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