Limited edition 180g deluxe vinyl with OBI/liner notes & digital.
A brief and tumultuous return home in which Dollar Brand brings New York avant garde, Bea Benjamin, Duke Ellington and Thelonius Monk to an adoring but bewildered South African audience. “This album captures South Africa’s most forward-thinking pianist consciously documenting both his own music and its key sources at a crucial crossroads in his life and career and leaving to posterity a critical snapshot of both his own musical history, and that of jazz music in his country.” Francis Gooding
Before digital, the South African Broadcasting Corporation recorded the country's leading musicians in its regional studios and pressed the performances onto transcription discs. These were records made for broadcast, never for sale. They were sent to stations across the country and played straight to air, so each disc was the broadcast – a fragile, singular link between a performance captured once and a local audience hearing it over the wireless.
For decades those discs have sat unseen in the SABC archive. Matsuli’s SABC Sessions series, licensed from the SABC and restored and remastered from the original discs, now makes these treasures available to a worldwide audience for the first time.
Before digital, the South African Broadcasting Corporation recorded the country's leading musicians in its regional studios and pressed the performances onto transcription discs. These were records made for broadcast, never for sale. They were sent to stations across the country and played straight to air, so each disc was the broadcast – a fragile, singular link between a performance captured once and a local audience hearing it over the wireless.
For decades those discs have sat unseen in the SABC archive. Matsuli’s SABC Sessions series, licensed from the SABC and restored and remastered from the original discs, now makes these treasures available to a worldwide audience for the first time.
releases December 4, 2026
All instruments performed by Dollar Brand.
Recorded at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) studios in late 1968 or early 1969.
Originally issued as an internal SABC Transcription record with matrices: LT 10185 and LT 10186.
Produced by Chris Albertyn and Matt Temple.
Audio restoration and lacquer cut by Frank Merritt at The Carvery.
Cover image licenced from The Drum Archive / african.pictures
Liner notes by Francis Gooding.
Artwork and design by Siemon Allen at Flatinternational.
Pressed at Optimal Media, Germany.
Licensed from the SABC.
© & ℗ 2026 Matsuli Music
All instruments performed by Dollar Brand.
Recorded at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) studios in late 1968 or early 1969.
Originally issued as an internal SABC Transcription record with matrices: LT 10185 and LT 10186.
Produced by Chris Albertyn and Matt Temple.
Audio restoration and lacquer cut by Frank Merritt at The Carvery.
Cover image licenced from The Drum Archive / african.pictures
Liner notes by Francis Gooding.
Artwork and design by Siemon Allen at Flatinternational.
Pressed at Optimal Media, Germany.
Licensed from the SABC.
© & ℗ 2026 Matsuli Music