THE BLUE NOTES

The Blue Notes were a South African jazz sextet, whose definitive line up featured Chris McGregor on piano, Mongezi Feza on trumpet, Dudu Pukwana on alto saxophone, Nikele Moyake on tenor saxophone, Johnny Dyani on bass, and Louis Moholo on drums. After moving away from their home country in 1964, they established themselves on the European jazz circuit, where they continued to play and record through the 1970s. They are now considered one of the great free jazz bands of their era, whose music was given a unique flavour by their integration of African styles such as Kwela into the progressive jazz ideas of the time. Although the band was initially based in Cape Town, they came to prominence at the 1963 National Jazz Festival in Johannesburg. An album recorded after the festival was released as Jazz - The African Sound, but this was not a Blue Notes record per se, read more...