– Chris McGregor and his Brotherhood Of Breath – live at Festival de Jazz d’Antibes in Juan-les-Pins on July 26, 1975 – RFI-International –
The man who put Township Jive and Free Jazz together, all under the watchful eye of Apartheid-era South Africa – Chris McGregor was a potent force in the changing fortunes of Jazz in Africa – bringing together a group of musicians who normally would not be able to play together, but who managed to change directions in Jazz and help put focus on Africa as a continent of considerable musical riches.
The end result if a music that reflects the influences of both jazz and traditional African music. Regarding his arrangements, McGregor stated: “You get a feeling for areas you want to explore… It was to do with African polyrhythm. I started hearing the possibilities of things happening on a lot of different levels rhythmically. There was a wheel turning then, things flowing together…” Author W. C. Bamberger described the music as “simple, rhythmic, with the parts entering one by one and interlocking, with the sections, line after line, increasing the torque of syncopated complexity until the ear can barely keep up, then backing off and, most often, starting again.”
The Brotherhood of Breath included many members of the South African expatriate community resident in London, including McGregor himself, Louis Moholo, Harry Miller, Mongezi Feza, Dudu Pukwana, (occasionally) Johnny Dyani; and many of the free jazz musicians who were based in London at the same time. The group included, at various stages, Lol Coxhill, Evan Parker, Paul Rutherford, Harry Beckett, Marc Charig, Alan Skidmore, Jim Dvorak, Mike Osborne, Elton Dean, Nick Evans, and John Surman. The personnel was fluid, depending on who was available. The music resembles a mixture of Charles Mingus and the experiments of Sun Ra, but retains a unique feel due to the South African influences and the intelligent arrangements.
The original Brotherhood Of Breath ended in the late-1970s, with the deaths of Mongezi Feza and Harry Miller (whose label, Ogun Records, released some of the Brotherhood’s albums). McGregor formed a second version of the group in France in the early-1980s, adding European musicians, including a number of French jazz musicians (François Jeanneau, Louis Sclavis, Jean-Claude Montredon, Didier Levallet). In 1987, a third edition was formed with African and British musicians such as Annie Whitehead. In this incarnation the music was more tightly arranged and controlled, with less free improvisation.
This weekend it’s that first incarnation of Brotherhood of Breath and the sound that caught everybody’s ear and wouldn’t let go.
It’s a rather joyous thing to wrap yourself around, this Holiday weekend.
Dive in.
