Chris
McGregor, a pianist who had formed the Blue Notes in his native South
Africa, hatched the idea of the Brotherhood of Breath in his
transplanted home of London. The group got its start at the end of the
Blue Notes tenure in 1969. This new group was essentially the same band
with the addition of several members of the British jazz community.
Among the people who were in the Brotherhood were Harry Beckett, Evan
Parker, Nick Evans (Keith Tippett Group), Mike Osborn, and Dudu Pukwana
(Blue Notes). The first album, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath,
came out in 1971. The album augmented the group's live legend in
establishing their reputation as one of the up-and-coming new jazz
groups. They released their next album, Brotherhood, in 1972. A live
album, Travelling Somewhere, was recorded in 1973, but not released
until later. The group dissolved in the mid-'70s. ~ Gary Hill, All Music Guide
Bio : Chris
McGregor was born the son of a Scottish missionary, brought up on
church hymns, and Xhosa dances. He studied at the Cape Town College of
Music and discovered the black jazz scene. His septet played in the
1962 National Jazz Festival and after founding the Blue Notes
in 1963, he led a big band. Harassed by the authorities, they escaped
the country through an invitation to the 1964 Antibes Jazz Festival.
Fellow expatriate Abdullah Ibrahim helped
them find work in Zurich, then at Ronnie Scott's in London, and at the
Café Montmartre in Copenhagen. The Blue Notes mixed South African
rhythms with free improvisation, an unprecedented fusion that created a
completely original, unmistakable style (In Concert, Vol. 1 & 2, Ogun 1978). McGregor's big band Brotherhood of Breath enlarged the Blue Notes with free improvisers (Evan Parker, Trevor Watts, Paul Rutherford).
They toured Europe to cheering audiences, but their studio records for
RCA in the early '70s weren't adequately promoted. Their exciting and
joyous live performances are captured on releases by independent labels
Ogun and Cuneiform. Keeping a large unit together became impossible and
when McGregor moved into the more comfortable climate of the south of
France, the Brotherhood reunited only intermittently and he played with
smaller groups or solo (heard on Piano Song, Vol. 1 & 2, Musica
1977, and In His Good Time, Ogun 1978). An Ellingtonian musician, his
real instrument being the orchestra, McGregor had a thick, percussive,
and yet melodic piano style. A continental big band was reunited in the
'80s (Yes Please, In&Out 1981, and Country Cooking, Virgin 1988) and well-received, but failed to fully re-create the excitement of the original band. ~ Francesco Martinelli, All Music Guide
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