From 1974 to 1982, he was a member of the band TPOK Jazz, led by Franco (François Luambo Makiadi), which dominated the Congolese music scene from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Other musicians who made their start at Jamel included saxophonist Empompo Loway (also later with TPOK Jazz), guitarists Bavon "Marie-Marie" (the only brother of Franco Luambo), Makosso, and Dave Makondele, and vocalists Djo Mpoyi (later with TPOK Jazz), Marcel "Djeskain" Loko, Bumba Massa, and Jean-Papy Ramazani (the latter three of whom would join Wuta Mayi in Kékélé, decades later).
Bopol was the same age as Wuta Mayi, having been born in Leopoldville on July 26, 1949, and both were then beginning their professional musical careers after high school.
Other band members included other vocalists Aime Kiwakana, Pires, and Tino Mwinkwa, Jeff Lunam on saxophone, and Mangenza on drums, as well as Madilu System, Pepe Kalle and Bozi Boziana.
That same year, Orchestre Bamboula was chosen, by winning a competition among the country's top bands, to represent the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the first Pan-African Festival of Culture in Algiers, Algeria.
[6]: 270 Other vocalists in TPOK Jazz at that time included Josky Kiambukuta, Michel Boyibanda, Youlou Mabiala, Ndombe Opetum and Aime Kiwakana.
Wuta Mayi is credited to have composed a number of songs for TPOK Jazz during his eight-year tenure there, including Melou (1975), Basala la vie (1978), Ayant Droit (1980), Moleka, Beyou (1980), and Tuti (1981).
[citation needed] In the early 2000s, Wuta Mayi, Nyboma, Syran Mbenza, Djeskain Loko Massengo, Sammy Bumba Massa, Papa Noël, and Jean-Papy Ramazani formed a band called Kékélé that toured extensively in Europe and North America.