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.
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