Cab Kaye - Swinging Diplomat

Swinging Diplomat

On 6 March 1957, the Gold Coast became Ghana, the first sub-Saharan African country to gain its independence. Three years later, on 6 March 1960, Kwame Nkrumah became president of the republic. For Cab Kaye, Ghana's independence was an important political symbol. Two family members in high government positions, Tawia Adamafio and C. T. Nylander, had brought Kaye into contact with Ghanaian politics. After Independence, during Nkrumah's reign, Kaye was appointed the Government Entertainments Officer and from 1961 worked at the Ghana High Commission in London as protocol officer. As such he played a role in getting a Ghana passport for Miriam Makeba, whose South African passport had been revoked under the country's apartheid regime.

Probably partly influenced by both racist experiences and euphoria over Ghana's Independence, he discarded with the anglicized version of his name (Cab Kaye) and called himself Kwamlah Quaye (some newspapers forgot the "h" in Kwamlah).

While his day job was working in the Ghanaian High Commission, he played at night in Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. A farewell special on Cab Kaye entitled Swinging Diplomat was broadcast by the BBC. In Ronnie Scott's club a farewell party was organized for Kaye under the slogan "He's goin 'home' with the best jazz in town".

Before leaving for Ghana, Kaye recorded the song he wrote with William "Bill" Davis, "Everything Is Go", with his "Kwamlah Quaye Sextetto Africana". With this band he made his first recordings in which he played guitar. This group consisted of guitarist Laurence Deniz (born in Cardiff in 1924, to a father from Cape Verde), bass: Chris O'Brien, bongos: Frank Holder, both of whom came from British Guiana (now Guyana) to serve in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Chris Ajilo at claves. "Everything is Go" was a tribute to the American astronaut John Glenn, with its "get set, blast off, this man is heading for space" being a cheerful calypso piece, strangely interwoven with the melancholy of the astro nautical euphoria of the sixties. The number was played at the opening of the exhibition of the Space Shuttle in Accra on 29 May 1962 by Joe Mensah. In 1962 (17 February) Kaye gained fourth place in the Melody Maker poll of leading jazz musicians. Kaye left London with big plans to work for the Ghana Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). On arriving in Accra, he formed a duo with singer Mary Hyde, with whom he regularly performed in the Star and other hotels in Accra.

In November 1961 Kaye performed during a visit by Queen Elizabeth. As Entertainments Manager for Ghana Hotels Ltd, Kaye was less successful. Although the concerts he organized were well visited, he could not get the dance competitions on Sunday and Monday off the ground. This was reported in the Ghanaian Times (26 April 1962), which caused Kaye to finish his contract shortly afterwards. In 1963, back in the Star Hotel, he joined with the drummer Guy Warren (later known as "Kofi Ghanaba") and the folk singer and activist Pete Seeger who, on a world tour, was very popular in Ghana for his statements about the equality of the black American population. Kaye then played in Accra (including the famous Tip-Toe Gardens) and in Lagos, alternating with performances in New York (e.g. in the Village Door in Long Island). On 7 August 1964 he played in a charity program called O'Pataki (Pataki in the Yoruba language can be translated as "important") to support African culture with the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and his quintet.