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Brotherhood of Breath
The Dedication Orchestra
The South African jazz group the Brotherhood of Breath was founded after the dissolution of the musically and culturally groundbreaking Blue Notes in the 1960s. Like the Blue Notes, the Brotherhood of Breath boasted a multiracial lineup that challenged repressive South African apartheid laws. But to declare that fact as the two groups' only lasting legacy is to do them a disservice, for both the Blue Notes and Brotherhood of Breath were capable of composing and performing complex, challenging, inspirational, and engaging jazz music that blended free jazz with post-bop, big band, and South African jazz influences.
The eclectic mix of styles has also prompted some jazz aficionados to classify the Brotherhood of Breath as jazz-rock fusion, and to place the group as a precursor to the acid jazz style. Other critics have labeled the band avant-garde and experimental, noting its affinities with the music of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Albert Ayler.
The linchpin of the Blue Notes and the Brotherhood of Breath was pianist Chris McGregor, who brought the initial Blue Notes together in 1960 and formed the Brotherhood of Breath in 1969. Born in 1936 in Umtata, South Africa, McGregor studied classical piano music but was more influenced by the music he heard in his father's Church of Scotland mission and by the free-jazz explorations of pianist Cecil Taylor. In 1962, he formed a jazz group to perform at the Johannesburg Jazz Festival, recruiting musicians with whom he would continue to play with in the future.
In order to hear his compositions played, McGregor formed the Blue Notes while he was studying at the College of Music at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He received funding from the Castle Lager Brewery in Soweto, South Africa, to form a 15-piece group; the resulting ensemble evolved into the Blue Notes. The group recorded an album, Jazz: The Africa Sound, and received permission from the government of South Africa to travel to Europe.
In 1964, frustrated that they were not allowed to play in South Africa due to apartheid laws, the Blue Notes chose to stay in Europe rather than return home. They performed at the 1965 Antibes Jazz Festival in France and resided in Zurich, Switzerland, for a year before moving on to London, England. Economic realties forced some of the Blue Notes to return to South Africa or take work with other groups.
The various Blue Notes took whatever work they could find in mid-1960s London, sometimes re-forming as the Chris McGregor Group for the bandleader's regular performances at the noted jazz club Ronnie Scott's. The group proved to be quite a draw with its combination of free jazz and a form of South African township dance music called kwela. In 1969, McGregor was approached by the producers of a film based on Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka's play Kongi's Harvest. The filmmaker's initial choice, Quincy Jones, was unavailable, and Soyinka personally asked McGregor to compose the soundtrack.
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