On the 6th of June, I wrote a reflective article about Mr. Lex Futshane. The last time I had written about him was approximately 18 months ago. I realise, in honesty, that I have not contributed consistently to my own creative group space for more than a month, but moments like this bring me back into alignment with why I write in the first place.

Lex Futshane, to me, is like a Bhayeni even though he is a Giqwa. His musical sleeve and catalogue stretch across generations of South African jazz. I first encountered him in my home in New Brighton, Msimka Street, if memory serves correctly, around 1988, during the recording of an album called The Jazzanians. I was young then, but already fully captured by the energy of jazz that still lives in me today. Many of the musicians on that recording were people I personally knew or grew up around, including the late great Zim Ngqawana, uMvulane uNcilashe on saxophone, Bra Lulu Gonstana (may their souls rest in peace), Victor Masondo, and Lex Futshane himself. At that time, my late uncle and brother, Jury Ntshinga, was also part of that circle. He used to call Lex by his African name, Monde, while we called him Mulligan in our own family shorthand.

Those were revolutionary times for jazz in Port Elizabeth — music was not only performance, but consciousness, identity, and resistance. I still have that vinyl record today. It carries more memory than sound.

Lex Futshane is a respected South African jazz bassist whose presence spans decades within the country’s modern jazz evolution. His contribution is grounded in ensemble performance, composition, and the deep structural role of the bass within South African jazz language — holding rhythm, harmony, and emotional direction in collective improvisation.

photo cred: https://www.musicinafrica.net/

Over the years, he has become known not only as a performer but as a stabilising musical voice within ensembles, contributing to projects that shaped post-apartheid jazz expression and its continued evolution.

His most defining recorded work as a leader is the 2014 album Innocent Victims and Perpetrators, where he leads the LEXTet ensemble and presents compositions such as Iculo, Up and Down, Mindo, Ngu Makazi, and Z + X = Makwedini. The project stands as his strongest documented artistic statement as a bandleader, blending structured composition with African improvisational jazz language.

Beyond his leadership work, Lex Futshane has contributed as a bassist and collaborator to key South African jazz recordings and ensembles. He performed with the NU Jazz Connection under Darius Brubeck on the album African Tributes, alongside musicians such as Zim Ngqawana and Lulu Gontsana, placing him within a formative generation of South African jazz that bridged education, resistance-era expression, and post-apartheid cultural rebuilding.

His broader recording contributions include work on projects such as Art Gecko, Durban Noise (Jürgen Brauninger), and Before It’s Too Late (Darius Brubeck), where his bass work consistently anchors ensemble structure and improvisational depth.

He is also recognised as a founding member of Bassment, a pioneering 12-double bass ensemble concept in African jazz, and a collaborator in Ingqungquthela with McCoy Mrubata — both projects that highlight his role in collective, experimental, and community-driven jazz expression.

As a closing note, I encourage listeners and researchers to revisit works such as Victims and Perpetrators and to explore his broader recorded presence within South African jazz archives, ensemble recordings, and live performance history as part of preserving our cultural memory.

As always, this is not paid advertising. This is a reflection from Lindikaya Ntshinga, Founder and Chief Developer at ECLIVES, where arts meet technology.

Camagu Makwande Giqwa.

Written by admin