Johnny Dyani - 1978 - Witchdoctor's Son

Johnny Dyani

1978

Witchdoctor's Son

01. Heart With Minor's Face 04:17

02. Ntyilo Ntyilo 05:15

03. Radebe 06:24

04. Mbizo 04:46

05. Eyomzi 06:57

06. Magwaza 13:06

07. Radebe (tk 1) 08:05

08. Heart With Minor's Face (tk 2) 04:25

09. Ntyilo Ntyilo (tk 1) 03:57

10. Magwaza (tk 1) 10:05

Bass, Piano, Vocals: Johnny Mbizo Dyani

Saxophone: John Tchicai, Dudu Pukwana

Guitar: Alfredo Do Nascimento

Drums: Luez "Chuim" Carlos De Sequaira

Congas, Percussion: Mohamed Al-Jabry

Since his arrival in England as a South African expatriate in the early '60s and as a member of the Blue Notes, bassist Johnny Dyani served as a powerful and creative component of innumerable ensembles (including those led by Abdullah Ibrahim and Chris McGregor) before releasing a series of albums under his own name in the late '70s and '80s. Witchdoctor's Son is certainly one of the best of these, featuring the wonderful dual reed frontline of John Tchicai and fellow ex-pat Dudu Pukwana. The pieces reflect Dyani's upbringing in the township style prevalent in South Africa, a joyous, surging music which seeks to transcend the horror of everyday life as experienced by the native majority. None of the compositions give a better example of this than the superb concluding number, "Magwaza," a traditional song arranged by Dyani with a grooving, elastic bassline that is absolutely irresistible and which provides fertile ground for inspired solos by Tchicai and Pukwana. Dyani would die far too early in 1986, but his warmth and utter musicality happily found expression in several small group recordings made in the prior ten years, of which Witchdoctor's Son is a sterling example. Highly recommended.

Johnny Mbizo Dyani (Nov. 30, 1945 — Oct. 24, 1986) was a South African double-bassist who emerged as one of the founding members of Cape Town jazz heroes the Blue Notes, in which he played alongside saxist Dudu Pukwana, drummer Louis Moholo, and trumpeter Mongezi Feza.

Just as the Blue Notes began making waves in Europe, Dyani departed in 1966 to tour Argentina with American saxist Steve Lacy. The following year, Dyani and Moholo played alongside Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava on Lacy’s The Forest and the Zoo album. Over the next five years, Dyani also appeared on albums by Al Shorter, Don Cherry, John Stevens, and former band-mate Chris McGregor.

In 1972, Dyani and Feza formed a surname-sake free-jazz trio with Turkish percussionist Okay Temiz. Their album, Music for Xaba, Vol. I, was issued the following year on Sonet. A second volume would appear in 1979, four years after Feza’s passing, which sparked the Blue Notes 1976 reunion album Blue Notes for Mongezi.

Dyani and Temiz recorded one further album, Witchdoctor’s Son, in 1976. That same title would also be used for Dyani’s first solo album, recorded with Pukwana and Danish saxist John Tchicai and released in 1978 on SteepleChase. That same year, he played in Moholo’s eponymous octet for the album Spirits Rejoice! The late ’70s also found the bassist’s name on albums by Dave Murray, Dollar Brand, Joe Bonner and Phillip Wilson.

In 1979, Dyani released his most popular album, Song for Biko, with a newly formed quartet comprised of Cherry, Pukwana, and drummer Makaya Ntshoko. A string of further solo and collaborative efforts would follow into the mid-1980s, which also found Dyani behind U.S. vibist Khan Jamal and beside Nowegian saxist Frode Gjerstad in the free-jazz trio Detail.

In October 1986, Dyani died shortly after a performance in West Berlin. His passing inspired a second Blue Notes reunion album, Blue Notes for Johnny. In 1988, a vaulted 1972 Dyani Temiz Feza recording session was issued as Rejoice on Cadillac Records.