South African Jazz at the Third Eye

Photo: Robert Masotti

South Africa has one of the strongest jazz cultures outside the USA, boasting such legends as Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Abdulla Ibrahim and Jonas Gwangwa, as well as exciting contemporary acts like Bokani Dyer and The Brother Moves On. But of all the great artists South Africa has produced, none had as profound an impact on the British and European jazz scenes as the cluster of flyers around the Blue Notes. 

The Blue Notes were led by pianist Chris McGregor, with Mongezi Feza on trumpet, Dudu Pukwana on alto saxophone, Nikele Moyake on tenor saxophone, Johnny Dyani on bass and Louis Moholo on drums. In 1964, they left South Africa to play the Antibes Jazz Festival, before settling in London. As Moholo explains, "We were rebels and we were trying to run away from this apartheid thing. We rebelled against the apartheid regime that whites and blacks couldn't play together. We stood up."  

Tragedy struck in 1966, when Moyake died of a brain tumour. Fellow South African Ronnie Beer took his place in the Blue Notes. Dyani worked extensively in Europe, settling in Copenhagen in the early 1970s, but regularly returning to London to work with his old friends. Other South Africans who settled in London around this time included the bassist Harry Miller, who went on to co-found the label Ogun with his wife Hazel. The label played a crucial role in documenting the music of the South Africans and their UK collaborators.  

Initially a hard-bop band, the Blue Notes soaked up influences from the avant-garde, combining them with South African melodies and rhythms. Their influence on the London scene was seismic. As Val Wilmer writes, “they literally upturned the London jazz scene, helping create an exciting climate in which other young players could develop their own ideas about musical freedom.” 

The South Africans began to collaborate with adventurous young British musicians such as Mike Osborne, Alan Skidmore, John Surman, Nick Evans and Harry Beckett, leading to the formation of the legendary big band Brotherhood of Breath, whose Joe Boyd produced debut dropped in 1971. McGregor, it's worth noting, contributed to another Boyd production of the same year, Nick Drake's Bryter Layter, one of several incursions the South Africans would make into the rock world - Feza contributed to albums by Robert Wyatt and Henry Cow, and with Pukwana and Moholo, he formed the Afro-Rock group Assagai, recruiting UK musicians such as Richard Thompson and King Crimson's Jamie Muir. 

The first Brotherhood Of Breath album is a desert island disc for me: from the hard rolling grooves of 'Mra' to the AACM abstractions of 'Night Poem', via the Ellingtonian balladry of 'Davashe's Dream', it's an astonishing work: funky, joyous, romantic, fiery, endlessly inventive. In their 1970s pomp, they produced a second studio album, Brotherhood, along with several live recordings. McGregor formed a new version of the group in the late 1980s, featuring younger players like Annie Whitehead alongside 1970s regulars. 

The group played Glasgow's McLellan Galleries in February 1974. A short extract of the gig exists in the Third Eye Video Archive, shot by Tom McGrath's team. Their set begins around the 17 minute mark - the first half of the video is of Glasgow group Birth. While the quality isn't the greatest, the sheer energy of the group is undeniable. 

Given the fuzzy quality, it's tricky to identify all the players. According the the Platform Newsletter of February 1974 the line-up is as follows: 

Dudu Pukwana, Evan Parker, Elton Dean, Lol Coxhill and Mike Osborne: saxophones. Mongezi Feza, Harry Beckett and Marc Charig: trumpets. Nick Evans and Radu Malfatti: trombones. Chris McGregor piano, Harry Miller bass, Louis Moholo drums. 

However, there's no sign of Lol Coxhill in the video and the trombonist doesn't look like Malfatti. Music writer and Brotherhood expert Marcello Carlin suggests it could either be Paul Rutherford or Dave Amis. Any further suggestions are most welcome! And if you were there, we'd love to hear your stories. 

The Blue Notes reformed in 1976 to pay tribute to Mongezi Feza, who passed away in December 1975 from untreated pneumonia. The group played as a quartet at the Third Eye on 8 April 1977. 

Following that, various members of the Blue Notes returned to the Third Eye over the next few years. The peerless Miller-Moholo rhythm section performed with Elton Dean's Ninesense on 5 May 1980 and Peter Brotzmann on 30 September 1980. And in November 1981, the Louis Moholo Quartet played the Third Eye's Jazz Now festival. Moholo and Miller were joined by Trevor Watts on alto saxophone and the American avant-garde master Frank Wright on tenor: a killer band! Moholo next played the Third Eye in 1989, in a heavyweight group with Watts, Dean, pianist Keith Tippett and bassist Marcio Mattos. And he has played the CCA on several occasions this century. 

McGregor brought his own quartet to the Third Eye on 4 May 1982. I'm still trying to track down the lineup for that gig - any suggestions welcome. 

The Johnny Dyani Quartet - Dudu Pukwana and Ed Epstein on saxophones, Churchill Jolobe on drums - played the Third Eye on 24 February 1981. This gig is particularly significant as the only commercially available jazz recording from the venue. Recorded by the venue's sound technician Allan Young, it's a fantastic album, with Dyani digging into deep grooves while pushing things out. It's still in print from Steeplechase Records - don't sleep!  
 

Beyond the Blue Notes, percussionist Julian Bahula's Jazz Afrika played the Third Eye on 1 August 1982. They're a very different prospect, with more of an Afro-Latin feel. Strut's compilation, Next Stop Soweto presents Spirit Of Malombo: Malombo, Jabula, Jazz Afrika 1966-1984, offers an excellent introduction to his politically charged music.  

Glasgow has a proud history of standing in solidarity with South Africans against apartheid. See the Anti-Apartheid Movement Archive Committee and Dhivya-Kate Chetty's fine documentary, Glasgow, Love, and Apartheid for more. In 1981, Nelson Mandela received the freedom of the city and five years later had a street named after him. In 1990, the Sechaba Festival brought 60 South African poets, musicians, actors and dancers to Glasgow in a two-week programme of events. Three years later, a free Nelson Mandela visited Glasgow to thank its people for their support. 

Jazz At The Third Eye proudly supports the Nelson Mandela Scottish Memorial Foundation's campaign to create a statue of Mandela.