Obituary: Ezra Ngcukana: Jazz saxophonist

Ezra Ngcukana, who was found dead in bed on Monday morning, was of the Jwarha clan among the Xhosa people in South Africa. This, according to his elder brother, Duke, meant that he could do nothing in half measures. "For instance, if you drink, as a Jwarha, you either drink heavily or you don't drink at all," says Duke.

And Ezra was a heavy drinker and marvellous human being.

On the saxophone, he was a monster; warm as hell and cool as they come. They called him Pharaoh - after the American jazz saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders - but to this writer he was more like Coleman Hawkins: warm, probing, brooding ... and devilishly explosive when the moment called for it.

"He was also the most gifted of the Ngcukana brothers," says Duke. "He had a natural feel for sound. He was incredible. I remember when he was still young, and we formed a band here in Cape Town and wanted the late Winston Mankunku Ngozi to lead on the sax. But we could not get Winston, so Ezra volunteered. I was not sure about him then, but hey, he showed us something. Hell! He blew and blew and blew and we just stood there, astounded and bewitched. That was Ezra for you; full of beautiful surprises."

Trumpeter Stompie Manana also remembers being pleasantly surprised by Ezra, even though music had no part in it in that episode: "We were touring the country in 1979 with the Pacific Express. So we wound up in Kimberley, staying at a small hotel. The next morning I woke up very early ... to go study, because there was an architectural course I was doing long distance with one of the universities. And guess who I found down there in the dining room but Ezra! He was at the time reading towards a degree in economics with the University of South Africa (Unisa). That is how we became close, because we started talking about books and all that.

"In the course of that, I discovered that he was Christopher's son. I mean, I had played with Mra - or Columbus, as we called Ezra's father then - way back in the early '60s. And here was his son, studying towards a posh degree, and the bloody bastard could play as well.

Manana said: "Ah, Ezra. He was so gifted, so talented. I mean, Ezra was a bloody genius. If you did not know him and you heard him play, maybe you would have said he is a fluke; a flash in the pan. Because that was Ezra: brilliant and meticulous. Ezra took his craft seriously."

Jazz singer Sylvia Mdunyelwa said: "Ezra was smart, brilliant and carefree. And many people don't know it, but Ezra was a beautiful singer as well.

"Full of humour too. He had this dog - Ezra loved animals - that he called Nununu. One day he came to rehearsals and announced with mock seriousness that "uNununu uyajola (Nununu is seeing a bitch)". That was Ezra for you; as brilliant as he was humble. When they invited me to perform at the North Sea Jazz festival in Holland in 2000, Ezra was one of the first people I invited to come along with me. And here at home I was always working with Ezra.

"His sound reminded me very much of Pharaoh Sanders. He had that warm and fat sound. He was also very patient, and you could see that in the way he interacted with other musicians, some of whom were of incredibly inferior talent. But Ezra had time for all of them. He had time, even, to teach mathematics to children here in Guguletu and Langa townships. I have lost a brother and a dear friend in Ezra."

Born into a musical family in 1954 (his father, Christopher "Columbus" was a jazz patriarch in Cape Town in the '40s, the '50s and '60s), Ezra was musically precocious, tagging along with elder brother Duke whenever the latter went to practise with a band in Langa. Ezra's first instrument - for which he earned the improbable nicknameKhehla (Old Man) - was the trumpet. He ditched that for the more full-bodied sound of the tenor saxophone.

Throughout his colourful career, Ezra played with giants such as the pianists Tete Mbambisa and the late Bheki Mseleku. He also played with master bassist Victor Ntoni, the late Mankunku Ngozi, Babsey Mlangeni, Darius Brubeck - and the best and the worst of them all, as Mdunyelwa put it.

Ezra is survived by his wife, Vuyiswa Dyalvane, his mother, Nontsokolo Ngcukana, four brothers and three sisters.