Master musician Dudu Pukwana, he played the saxophone, who was part of a great generation of South African jazz musicians (I blogged about them a few days ago), died on this day in 1990.
An appropriate time to post this clip, above, that appear to be from a documentary about the Blue Notes, the seminal 1960s South African jazz, led by Chris MacGregor, that Pukwana was a part of. The group later became Brotherhood of Breath outside South Africa. Louis Moholo and Pukwana’s wife, Barbara, talk about the band and its impact.
You can also see a bit of Pukwana at work in this clip from a documentary about music and exile: He plays at the 4:20 mark.
– Sean Jacobs
@Sean: Great series of posts on this very rich period in SA music. The musicians at the core of Brotherhood of Breath were very influential on young black British musicians. Courtney Pine has said several times that he came to jazz through the influence of people like Dudu Pukwana and Mongezi Feza and only later found his way to the American masters. In fact, for a while The Jazz Cafe in Camden Town was the unofficial headquarters of the remnants of The Brotherhood and young British players would sit in during the jam sessions.
Thxs 4 this.
Cool article. It’s about time to find interesting content for a change.