Johnny Fourie
Jan Carel "Johnny" Fourie (born May 18, 1937 near Postmasburg , † August 19, 2007 in Johannesburg ) was a South African jazz musician ( guitar ).
Career
Fourie, who received a guitar as a child and learned it himself , left home at the age of 19 to become a jazz guitarist . He first made his living as an entertainment musician before becoming a studio musician for Gallo Records . In 1962 he migrated to London after having worked as a ship musician in 1961. After touring with Ray Ellington's quartet for two years , he worked with Tubby Hayes , Jack Parnell and bassist Johnny Hawksworth. Between 1965 and 1967 he was seen on television with Parnell and led his own trios. Then he became a resident musician at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club , where he accompanied traveling stars such as Bill Evans , Jim Hall , René Thomas , Freddie Hubbard , Stan Getz , Roland Kirk and Sonny Rollins .
He briefly returned to South Africa in the late 1960s to go to New York City in 1972. John McLaughlin , with whom he was friends, gave him studio work for Charles Earland's album Intensity . After the session, Billy Cobham Fourie recommended Clive Stevens for his band Atmospheres , where he took the place of John Abercrombie and stayed for twelve months. He then applied to Chick Corea to play in its Return to Forever . However, since he entered the United States on a tourist visa, he had illegal status and was expelled in 1974. In South Africa in 1979 he founded his own band with his son Sean Fourie on keyboards, Raymond Boshoff on drums and Chris Bekker on bass. From 1985 he was a member of Carlo Mombelli's Abstractions alongside Duke Makasi .
He later taught at the jazz department of the Pretoria Technikon , where he founded the Short Attention Span Ensemble , which released its debut album, Fingerprints of the Gods , in 1997 . Tom Lord recorded eight recordings between 1964 and 2000; he can also be heard on albums by Roger Webb , Art de Villiers, Tubby Hayes and Richard "Groove" Holmes ( African Encounter ).
Web links
- Entry in Grove Music Online / The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz
- Biography (Jonathan Crossley, Rootz Magazine 2002)
- Johnny Fourie at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fourie, Johnny |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fourie, Jan Carel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | South African jazz guitarist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 18, 1937 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | near Postmasburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 19, 2007 |
| Place of death | Johannesburg |