Chris McGregor

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Chris McGregor (born December 24, 1936 in Somerset West , South Africa , † May 26, 1990 in Agen (France)) was a South African composer, pianist and band leader. His name is inextricably linked with the South African-European big band "The Brotherhood of Breath", which he founded in 1969 in London. “Nobody before,” wrote the journal Jazz Podium in 1977, “has merged Bantu rhythms and Zulu melodies with the practices of jazz, free collective improvisation , expressive tone generation and flowing lines as successfully as McGregor,” the am Died of lung cancer on May 26, 1990.

Live and act

McGregor grew up as the son of a missionary for the Church of Scotland in Transkei ; he was influenced by church music and the traditional music of the Xhosa . From 1956 to 1960 he studied piano at the Music Academy in Cape Town and was encouraged by Dollar Brand and Makaya Ntshoko in his inclination to modern jazz . From 1960 to 1962 he played with musicians like "Cups and Saucer" Nkanuka , Christopher Ngcukana and Johnny Gertze in local clubs. He was also involved as a musician and arranger in Stanley Glasser's musical Mr. Paljas . In 1963 he founded the first racially integrated big band in South Africa and, against the resistance of the South African government at the time, worked with musicians such as Kippie Moeketsi , Barney Rachabane , Dennis Mpale and Early Mabuza . The big breakthrough with the jazz sextet The Blue Notes , which he also initiated and developed from this large formation , was initially denied to him because the concert agents only wanted to support events in the black townships (strict apartheid forbade performances in front of white audiences, some of which are illegal took place in student clubs). In 1964, after a long and exhausting battle with the South African authorities, the Blue Notes (which included McGregor Louis Moholo , Mongezi Feza , Dudu Pukwana , Johnny Dyani and initially Nick Moyake ) were able to leave South Africa to attend the Jazz à Juan festival to play in Antibes . After appearing in Switzerland in 1964, in Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London and in 1966 in Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen, he moved to London. The group was initially unable to establish itself there. McGregor started a second attempt in 1967 with Pukwana, Ronnie Beer , Feza, Dyani and Moholo; the group played, now under his name, concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and recorded an LP that received good reviews but was rarely sold. He also played with Gwigwi Mrwebi and as a session musician (with Alexis Korner and Nick Drake ). The blue notes were only revived on special occasions.

The Brotherhood of Breath

In 1969 Chris McGregor was commissioned to write the music for the film Kongi's Harvest (directed by Ossie Davis , based on the play by Wole Soyinka ). When he heard his compositions played by a large cast, he formed his own big band called The Brotherhood of Breath . It was essentially the Blue Notes (with Harry Miller as bassist), supplemented by top-class jazz musicians from London such as John Surman , Evan Parker , Kenny Wheeler , Mark Charig , Mike Osborne , Alan Skidmore and Harry Beckett , with whom he was partially had played at Ronnie Scott's Old Place since 1967 .

The Brotherhood of Breath gave their first concert in London's Notre Dame Hall in March 1970 and presented their first album in 1971. From 1971 to 1974 she toured frequently, for example at the Berlin Jazz Days , and cemented her reputation as one of the legendary big bands of the free jazz era. The characteristic of the first Brotherhood formation is that they “do not play together with the usual studio precision”, “but it is precisely the harmonic frictions of this› Brotherhood of Breathing ‹that have an Africanizing and intensifying effect.” After a tour through Germany and Switzerland, McGregor moved in 1974 with his wife Maxine and his children to an old mill in Aquitaine in southern France. He returned regularly to London for rehearsals and tours and was heard with the Brotherhood at the Festival in Nice in 1975 and in Toulouse in 1977. Later editions of the big band , which also performed at the Moers Festival , included Beckett and David Defries and South African musicians such as Claude Deppa , Ernest Mothle and Gilbert Matthews, initially more musicians from France such as Louis Sclavis , Didier Levallet or François Jeanneau and, at the end of the 1980s, younger ones Musicians from Great Britain such as Julian Argüelles , Steve Williamson and Annie Whitehead .

Discography

  • Chris McGregor & Castle Lager Big Band Jazz: The African Sound Gallo NSL 1011 (1963) TELCD 2300 1991
  • South African Exiles Thunderbolt PAM 405 1997

Blue notes

  • Legacy (1964) Ogun OGCD 007 1995
  • Township Bop (1964) Proper PRP CD 013 2002
  • Very Urgent (as Chris McGregor Group) Polydor 184137 1968
  • Blue Notes for Mongezi Ogun OGD 001/002 1975
  • In Concert Vol. 1 (1977) OGUN OG 220 1978
  • Blue Notes for Johnny Ogun OG 532 1987

The Brotherhood of Breath

  • Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath (RCA Neon 1971)
  • Brotherhood (RCA 1972)
  • From Bremen to Bridgewater (1971/1975; Cuneiform Rune 182/183 - 2004)
  • Traveling Somewhere (1973; Cuneiform Rune 152 - 2001)
  • Live at Willisau (Ogun 100 1974)
  • Procession (Ogun 524 1978)
  • Yes Please (In and Out 1981)
  • Country Cooking (Virgin 1988)
  • En Concert a Banlieues Bleues (with Archie Shepp - Rue Est CD 017 - 1989)

solo

  • "In His Good Time" Ogun OG521 1977
  • "Piano Song Vol. 1" Musica MUS3019 1977
  • "Piano Song Vol. 2" Musica MUS 3023 1977

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "The McGregor Legend on Record at Last" was the title of the Melody Maker
  2. ^ Mbaqanga Ellington. Ralf Bei der Kellen on the unusual life of the South African pianist and band leader Chris McGregor. Jazzthetik 7/8 2010
  3. ↑ In 1978 McGregor appeared with Pukwana, Dyani and Moholo as Blue Notes in the 100 Club (live recording), in 1980 at the Total Music Meeting in Berlin.
  4. ↑ Joachim Ernst Berendt The Jazz Book. From Rag to Rock Frankfurt a. M. 1973, p. 343

Web links

personal data
SURNAME McGregor, Chris
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African pianist, composer and band leader
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Somerset West , South Africa
DATE OF DEATH May 26, 1990
Place of death Agen , south of France