The Blue Notes - The Ogun Collection
Friday, November 28, 2008
Ogun OGCD024-028****
Mongezi Feza (t), Dudu Pukwana (as, ss), Nick Moyake (ts), Chris McGregor (p), Johnny Dyani (b) and Louis Moholo (d). Rec. 1964-1987
Nick Moyake was the first to go, not long after The Blue Notes split South Africa. But there was never any question of replacing him. The group continued with its remaining five original members. The same was true when Mongezi died in 1975 and when Johnny passed in 1987. They were in every meaningful sense indivisible. That two of these four albums – Blue Notes For Mongezi (a double CD) and Blue Notes For Johnny – were recorded in memory of their fallen comrades is almost unbearably sad. It is clear from Legacy, the earliest recording here, that there was something truly special about these guys from the outset. Even when apart and engaged in their own projects, they were still Blue Notes first and the music they shared poured out into their solo work. And yet it is hard to imagine six more individually distinctive musical stylists. Such combinations of talents usually implode all too quickly.
All of which goes to dispel the anarchic, unruly and even undisciplined image that they sometimes had. In lesser hands, the 150 minutes of music they recorded for Mongs the night after his memorial ceremony might have shown at least the odd moment of over-indulgence or exaggerated emoting. Instead, its coherence is astonishing. In a different way, Legacy, which they made shortly before they left South Africa, expresses the joy of playing and an assured touch rather than any bitterness or anger at the way they had been forced to live under Apartheid. It’s all the more political for it, an assertion of humanity and cultural values and confidence in the face of dehumanising repression. It’s true that The Blue Notes were all influenced and inspired by their contacts with Cecil Taylor and Albert Ayler in Denmark. However, ‘Free Jazz’ in their hands said more about the myriad possibilities of group performance than any simple adherence to the principles of atonality and dissonance. They were, in their way, remarkably disciplined. With the addition of one or two out-takes and unreleased tracks, this becomes the indispensable purchase of the year. I can think of no box-set or retrospective that gives so clear and so perfect a representation of a group of artists and their mission. This is so much more than a tribute. It is mission accomplished.
Duncan Heining