Obituaries: Ernest 'Shololo' Mothle: Bass player and composer

Ernest "Shololo" Mothle, who has died at 70 after a battle with diabetes, was a double-bass player of extraordinary ability and lyricism.

"He was incomparable," says saxophonist Sydney "Ace" Mnisi. "He had a thing with melody, man, which was simply out of this world."

Born in 1941 in Lady Selborne township in Pretoria, Mothle started playing the saxophone in his teens. He was just fooling around. It was only after he turned to the double bass that Mothle found his voice in music.

And that voice found its fullest and most profound expression through the timeless medium of jazz.

"His style was like that of Charles Mingus," says Mnisi. "He was always leading. Not for him the contentment of backing. He wanted you, the listener, to hear him in the same way you hear a leading saxophone or trumpet."

Minisi and Mothle worked together on a project two years ago to commemorate Chris McGregor, who founded the acclaimed band Brotherhood of Breath in the 1960s. The band featured, among others, glorious artists including Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Johnny Dyani, Louis Moholo and Mothle himself.

"I enjoyed every minute of working with this great man," says Mnisi. "He was the musical director of the project, yet he was ever so humble. Other musical directors often let their egos get in the way, becoming aggressive when it's not necessary. It was not that way with Mothle. He was always humble and a gentleman.

"And he taught us a lot about the music of McGregor's band. It was complicated s**t, man. Very complicated. But the man knew it inside out - and in the end, we produced something fit for the jazz gods."

Mothle's skills were not limited to playing. He was, as saxophonist Barney Rachabane recounts, a fantastic composer.

"We played together in the band Early Mabuza's Big Five with Johnny Mekoa, Tete Mbambisa and Pat Matshikiza," says Rachabane.

"We also played in the Early Mabuza Quartet that recorded at the 1964 Jazz Festival in Soweto.

"Ernie, as we called him, was a studious musician - forever figuring out new ways of expressing himself through his instrument. When I went to London in the late 1960s - where he was living in exile - I was astonished by how much complexity he had added to his playing. But that was Ernie. Oh, he was something else."

Mothle played with giants of jazz from all over the world including Sonny Stitt, Archie Shepp and Courtney Pine.

Locally, he recorded with Winston Mankunku Ngozi, among others.

When Nelson Mandela turned 70 22 years ago, Mothle performed with trombonist Jonas Gwangwa and Hugh Masekela at Wembley Stadium in Britain.

Apartheid was a very serious matter to Mothle, which is why, in 1986, he performed with the aptly named Jazz Gene Apartheid Project in Germany, alongside Makaya Ntshoko and John Tchicai.

"I have lost a friend," says Rachabane. Together, they used to run music clinics in Mmabana in North West.