Travelling Somewhere : Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath
(Cuneiform. Rune 152)

The Blue Notes Legacy : Live In South Afrika 1964
(Ogun OGCD 007)

Several cultural artefacts helped me to survive the abundance of dreck in the mid- seventies. Val Wilmer’s excellent survey of great black music As Serious As Your Life was one of them. Then there was almost anything that Ogun Records released, particularly a couple of albums of life-enhancing music from Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath. The albums, Live At Willisau and Procession still sound exciting and joyful now and it is a bonus that the former has been re-issued on cd with tracks that didn’t appear on the original vinyl. If the Brotherhood became a more controlled, though no less enjoyable, entity in the 80s these sessions show them as the irrepressible and joyfully blowing band that many will remember most fondly.

Now Cuneiform are continuing the work that Ogun did and have released Travelling Somewhere, a concert recorded in January 1973 by Radio Bremen which features one of the many unmissable line-ups of a staggeringly energetic band. Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana and others may have supplied the compositions but the collective force of the musicians always managed to dislocate, stretch and re-build them in the course of a performance. And this is no exception.

It’s often difficult to select highlights from a Brotherhood set but the opener, Pukwana’s ‘MRA’, is one and shows what they could do. Listen to McGregor’s urgent piano, the force of Moholo’s drumming, the collective fire of the horns stating the glorious theme and then their free-blowing. You are aware of the sheer joy generated on stage by the ensemble, with solos developing and evolving out of the togetherness. ‘Ismite Is Might’, a short McGregor piece, is a solemn, gospel - ish voicing of the horns in subdued but still powerful mood. And Louis Moholo’s drumming is anything but subdued; it is the spirit behind the band.

According to the accompanying booklet, ‘Kongi’s Theme’ is by Wole Soyinka though I’ve always thought it a McGregor tune. Whatever, it’s a march, again fuelled by Moholo, featuring the trombones and trumpets riffing before Nick Evans gets a chance to solo. He also contributes an equally sinewy, gruff solo on ‘Wood Fire’ and if I have any minor complaint it’s just that I wish his trombone partner, Radu Malfatti, were there with him. A great team, as anyone lucky enough to have seen/heard the band Nicra will testify.

And talking of absences, on ‘Think Of Something’ you can hear the much-missed Mike Osborne letting rip with his trademark alto playing, commanding, fluent, melodic and swinging over the Moholo/Miller drums and bass. The rest of the band punctuate and interject but it’s the Mike Osborne Trio re-born again at the centre of this Osborne composition. His sax, so immediately recognisable, should have a place in anyone’s collection. This track probably is the highlight of the cd for me and sent me back to my ancient vinyl copy of his trio’s classic ‘All Night Long’. Pure joy.

Now if Osborne is so readily recognisable there is a difference of opinion between me and the writer of the cd’s booklet about the identity of one main soloist on the title track. Mike Fowler talks about Mongesi Feza’s exciting trumpet, and he does blow a few licks, but the solo that follows is, to these ears, too abstract for a Feza solo. I’ve always had him pegged as a melodic force, as his compositions and solos elsewhere show. No, this solo sounds like either madcap Gary Windo or Evan Parker, and as a tenor tour-de-force it is one of the superb features of the track. There is an engagingly warm, township feel to the theme even if, in places, it does become a bit ragged ! As Louis Moholo has said elsewhere, they often took the themes and tunes to bits in a spirit of ‘Wah Hey!’.

The cd ends with McGregor’s ‘Do It’, its insistent, joyful opening theme gradually mutates into other riffs and several solos with Moholo’s ever inventive drumming moving from tapping cymbals to whiplash snare attacks. It is a treat for anyone who wants to witness a much-missed collective force in jazz. So many of these players are no longer around and it is a tragedy for a music which is not short of tragic stories.

Listening to this, though, did remind me of the beginnings of the Brotherhood and sent me in search of The Blue Notes Legacy – Live In South Afrika 1964. Of the six strong band that was The Blue Notes only Louis Moholo remains but it is a real joy to hear this Brotherhood in miniature preparing to leave their homeland to begin what was a lifetime exile in Europe and the U.K.

Tenor saxophonist, Nick Moyake, was unhappy as an exile and returned to Africa, sadly to an early death in 1969. Hearing him produce such assured solos on originals like McGregor’s ‘Now’ or the standard, ‘I Cover The Waterfront’ made me realise what a loss he was. Chris McGregor didn’t often push his piano to the fore in the Brotherhood, maybe because the collective force of the band never allowed him to!

Luckily here we are able to enjoy the relaxed melodic style of his approach and remember he wasn’t only the composer, leader and arranger of his various bands.

Dudu Pukwana was an explosive player on some of The Blue Notes recordings but he too had a strong sense of the melodic. His compositions here, especially ‘Coming Home’ and ‘B My Dear’, all show that. His solos are full of an authority and structure that some may find surprising. There was always more to him than the barely controlled firebrand that is apparent on other albums.

The other McGregor composition on this recording, ‘Vortex Special’ features a searching Pukwana solo which is full of melodic twists and turns. Mongesi Feza’s trumpet is also heard to great effect here, effortlessly building on the loping rhythms of Moholo and Johnny Dyani before Moyake enters with a gravitas worthy of Coltrane. In fact this track reminds me of another, perhaps better known, sextet outing; Kind Of Blue, or at least ‘So What’ is echoed in the overall feel of the piece and the two-note theme that punctuates behind McGregor’s short solo.

The recording, in Durban, has a clear and spacious quality to it. And the audience response caught here shows how much the band were appreciated and loved. It is a fitting testament to six emergent talents who spread their fire, enthusiasm and energy among the British jazz scene in the late 60s and 70s. Both of these albums are part of a legacy that has an important place in jazz history. Long may they be heard and enjoyed.

Brotherhood Of Breath : Live At Willisau (OGUN OGCD 001)

Brotherhood Of Breath : Procession (OGUN OG 524)

Blue Notes : For Mongesi (OGUN OGD 001/002 )

Blue Notes In Concert : Volume One (OGUN OG 220)

Mike Osborne Trio : All Night Long : The Willisau Concert (OGUN OG 700)

Nicra : Listen/Hear (OGUN OG 010)

These and others are mostly on vinyl and can be hard to trace. You can try OGUN at Cadillac Distribution, 61 Collier St, London, N1 9DF. Alternatively contact Jazz House Records alan@leicesterjazz.freeserve.co.uk