Chris Chris Mcgregor's Brotherhood of Breath

An album that fuses the influence of African music, jazz-rock, and free improvisation, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath shares affinities with the '70s music of Don Cherry and Miles Davis. Somewhat of a legendary album amongst collectors of British jazz and fusion, the LP was originally released in the '70s and in early 2002 finally became reissued by the Italian label Akarma. Enlisted on the session were the talents of a group of extraordinary musicians from the free jazz, progressive rock, and improvisation scenes. Chris McGregor led the group on piano and African xylophone with Malcolm Griffiths and Nick Evans on trombones, Mongezi Feza on pocket trumpet and Indian flute, Mark Charig on cornet, Harry Beckett on trumpet, and Dudu Pukwana on alto saxophone. Ronnie Beer's tenor saxophone is outstanding, and pitched up against Alan Skidmore's tenor and soprano saxophone, completing a massive horn section, are two bigger names: '70s U.K. jazzman Mike Osborne on alto saxophone and clarinet and John Surman on baritone and soprano saxophone.

Cuneiform's issue of several previously unreleased live recordings from the 1970s editions of the Chris McGregor big band (commencing with the brilliant Travelling Somewhere) has stirred up some powerful memories, especially among Brits and Europeans old enough to have seen the group live. More to the point, it has also served to introduce a whole new generation of jazz fans to the unique qualities of the Brotherhood, which was made up of a multi-racial assortment of South African expats who combined African hi-life, kwela, and township jive with both traditional and avant-garde American big band jazz. Beyond that, the special significance of the group in Great Britain was related to its arrival from South Africa at a time of great musical ferment, when young British (and European) players were absorbing the lessons of American jazz innovators such as John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, and Sun Ra…

At various times in his long career, saxophonist, composer, playwright, and educator Archie Shepp has been regarded as a musical firebrand, cultural radical, soulful throwback to the jazz tradition, contemplative veteran explorer, and global jazz statesman…

Recorded in 1969, these sessions were released only 39 years later. They took place at the same time as the sessions for the Chris McGregor Septet album Up to Earth, also abandoned at the time and unearthed in 2008 by the Fledg'ling label. Our Prayer features McGregor in a rare small setting, a trio with bassist Barre Phillips and drummer Louis Moholo. The 45-minute set runs the gamut of the pianist's range, for an album that might have been heralded as a landmark, had it been released then. In retrospect, it offers a beautiful, progressive listen, and a valuable look into McGregor's musical thought, right before the formation of his Brotherhood of Breath…