in 1959 just before breaking up, the jazz epistles recorded the first album by a black south african band, "jazz epistle, verse 1". that same year, composer todd matshikiza's musical "king kong" became a hit in johannesburg. it used a jazz score to tell the tragic story of south african heavyweight boxer ezekial "king kong" dhlamini. miriam makeba, members of the manhattan brothers, and the jazz epistles musicians were involved in the production.