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Louis Moholo-Moholo

Louis Moholo born in Cape Town, South Africa, knew from a very early age that he wanted to play the drums. After working with many groups, and being awarded The Best Drummer of the Jabulani Festival 1964, he had already met up with, now known as the "stars" of those days, Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Nick Moyake, Chris McGregor, and Johnny Dyani, with whom a journey of escape and development was about to begin. The Blue Notes after playing around SA, just escaping the forces of the Apartheid, were invited to the Antibes Jazz Festival in 1964, and after playing in festivals / clubs around Europe finally arrived in England in 1965. The music scene was knocked sideways with their stimulating rhythms and songs which influenced the jazz and improvised music scene in Europe which was also establishing its own identity at this time.

In 1965-67 Louis toured South America with Steve Lacy, returning to Britain in time to join Chris McGregor's newly formed Brotherhood of Breath which stunned audiences around Europe with their own special South African big band sound. Within this big band there were many other combinations of which Louis and Harry Miller on bass, formed one of the most formidable rhythm sections, such as Mike Osborne's Trio, Elton Dean's Ninesense, Harry's own group Isipingo, and various groups led by Dudu Pukwana.

All of Louis.s activities have been about cultural/musical synthesis and juxtaposition involving him with the rising talents in Europe. Enrico Rava in Italy, Misha Mengelberg, Curtis Clark, and Tristan Honsinger in Holland, Irene Schweizer in Switzerland, Peter Brotzmann in Germany, and was part of the Keith Tippett musical concepts, Centipede, Ark, and more recently the exceptional duo, "No Gossip". One of the most exciting groups he led in the early seventies was the mighty Spirits Rejoice featuring Evan Parker, Radu Malfatti, Nick Evans, Kenny Wheeler, Keith Tippett and the twin SA basses of Harry Miller and Johnny Dyani. Resurrected in 2000 and toured UK for the Arts Council of Great Britain, with Paul Rogers on bass.

During the eighties Louis toured America with Peter Brotzmann's trio, and continued to work in Holland, Switzerland and Germany leading his own groups and developing many musical partnerships, including duos with Cecil Taylor in Berlin, Irene Schweizer in Switzerl;and. Another important milestone in Louis.s career was the forming in 1990's of his nine piece band "Viva-La-Black", which became the first group to tour South Africa, arranged by the British Council, as the lifting of Aparthied and freedom became imminent.

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Album Review

Elton Dean Quartet: On Italian Roads (Live in Milan 1979)

Read "On Italian Roads (Live in Milan 1979)" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Registrato (su cassetta) il 25 febbraio 1979 al Teatro Cristallo di Milano, il nastro di questo concerto ha dovuto attendere la bellezza di quarantatré anni, ma alla fine, grazie alla caparbietà e alla dedizione alla causa di Riccardo Bergerone, che dell'odierno CD (in impeccabile digipack a sei facciate) condivide la responsabilità delle note di copertina con Roberto Ottaviano, è oggi disponibile per i nostri lettori e le nostre orecchie. Ed è un'autentica festa, perché, al di là ...

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Album Review

Karl Evangelista: Apura!

Read "Apura!" reviewed by John Sharpe


One sure-fire way for up-and-coming musicians to get attention is to convene an all star combo. Though Bay Area-based Filipino-American guitarist (and sometime AAJ scribe) Karl Evangelista follows that route on his fourth album Apura! he makes surprising but astute choices of bandmates by enlisting the services of legendary South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo and the British pair of veteran saxophonist Trevor Watts and rising star pianist Alexander Hawkins. As Evangelista explains in the liner notes, the music of early ...

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Radio & Podcasts

“Bass-ic" Strokes for Discerning Folks

Read "“Bass-ic" Strokes for Discerning Folks" reviewed by Maurice Hogue


The double bass is rather well-represented in this show. New recordings featuring some great bassists as leaders come from Miles Perkin, Benjamin Hedquist, and Andrew Schiller, while other recordings feature Mario Pavone, Ville Rauhala with Hot Heros, Brett Hirst with Phil Slater, Brad Jones with Tenor Triage, Matt Brewer with Steve Lehman, Giovanni Maier with Cene Resnik, and the formidable John Stevens on Louis Moholo-Moholo's Four Blokes. Playlist Tenor Triage “The Fifth" from Tenor Triage (Ropeadope) 00:00 ...

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Album Review

Louis Moholo-Moholo's Five Blokes: Uplift The People

Read "Uplift The People" reviewed by John Sharpe


At last an album which captures some of the intense excitement, wayward adventure and sheer joy of a group which has wowed audiences at festivals and clubs across Europe and North America. Uplift The People by South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo's prosaically-named Five Blokes was recorded live at London's Cafe Oto in April 2017 and represents an upgrade on Four Blokes (Ogun, 2014) in every sense. The blokes in question include long time collaborators Jason Yarde on saxophones, John Edwards ...

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Live Review

Alexander Hawkins - Louis Moholo-Moholo alla Sala Vanni di Firenze

Read "Alexander Hawkins - Louis Moholo-Moholo alla Sala Vanni di Firenze" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Musicus Concentus Superjazz Firenze, Sala Vanni 21.11.2014

Per il quarto e ultimo appuntamento di Superjazz, di scena a Firenze due musicisti ben distanti tra loro per generazioni, ma assai prossimi per taluni aspetti della loro sensibilità musicale: il giovane pianista britannico Alexander Hawkins e il settantaquattrenne batterista sudafricano Louis Moholo-Moholo.

Hawkins è una delle più apprezzate promesse del momento, oltre che come pianista anche come bandleader; Moholo invece faceva parte di quel manipolo ...

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Live Review

Louis Moholo Moholo Quartet At The Crescent Arts Centre

Read "Louis Moholo Moholo Quartet At The Crescent Arts Centre" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Louis Moholo-Moholo The Crescent Arts Centre Belfast October 30, 2014 Ireland has been graced by the presence of two South African musical icons in October. First, the brilliant, seventy-five-year-old trumpeter Hugh Masekela played jny:Dublin and then a little over a week later Louis Moholo-Moholo--younger by a year--kicked up a storm in jny: Belfast. That Masekela was playing the 1,200 seater National Concert Hall while Moholo-Moholo played to about sixty people in an intimate club ...

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Live Review

Torino Jazz Festival 2014

Read "Torino Jazz Festival 2014" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Varie sedi--25.04-1.05.2014 Benché bersagliata da intemperanze meteorologiche d'altro canto non nuove, in questa sede, la terza edizione del Torino Jazz Festival (seconda sotto la direzione artistica di Stefano Zenni) ha visto una partecipazione di pubblico che definiremmo oceanica, al punto che--per esempio--si è rivelato praticamente impossibile accedere ai concerti in giro per i club (gratuiti, come quasi tutto il resto) a meno di non poter privilegiare il singolo appuntamento, presentandosi conseguentemente in loco con lauto anticipo, il ...

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Performance / Tour

Kali. Z. Fasteau with Louis Moholo-Moholo at Ez's Woodshed on June 25th

Kali. Z. Fasteau with Louis Moholo-Moholo at Ez's Woodshed on June 25th

Source: All About Jazz

A Special One-Time Concert in Harlem Kali. Z. Fasteau with South African Drum Maestro Louis Moholo-Moholo

Monday, June 25 from 7 - 9 pm at BIG APPLE JAZZ - EZ's Woodshed 2236 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. (7th Ave.) between 131st & 132nd Streets. Harlem, NY 10027

Subway: 2, 3, or B,C to 135th Street, or M2 bus to front of venue. Phone: (212)-283-JAZZ

Admission: $10. Dinner available.

About Kali. Z. Fasteau:

Composer And Multi-Instrumentalist: Soprano Saxophone, ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

On Italian Roads...

British Progressive Jazz
2022

buy

Apura!

Astral Spirits
2020

buy

Duets With Marilyn...

Intakt Records
2008

buy

Sibanya (We Are One)

Intakt Records
2008

buy

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