Johnny Mbizo Dyani - 1987 - Together

Johnny Mbizo Dyani 

1987

Together

01. Together

02. Johnny's Kwela

03. Marabi Soweto

04. High Priest

05. Kalahari

06. Crossroads

07. Tula Tula

All compositions by Johnny Mbizo Dyani, except 7, traditional, arranged by JMD.

Johnny Mbizo Dyani - keyboards, vocals

Dudu Pukwana - altosax, whistles

Virimuje Shimmy Radise - tenor sax

Kenny Hakansson - electric guitars

Hassan Ban - congas

Bosse Skoglund - drums

Felix Perrera - South African trad. harp

Produced by Stanley Koonin at Sound City Studios, Stockholm, Dec.1979-Jan.1980.

This was released posthumously on the Cadillac label in 1987 and label head John Jack is listed as executive producer, though whether he may have had anything to do with the original sessions is not clear.

Following Dudu Pukwana's Zila, here's Johnny Mbizo Dyani's Witchdoctor's Son. This is not to be confused with the Witchdoctor's Son that came out on the Steeplechase label with a different line-up, though with Dudu Pukwana in both. This here is a Swedish - South African crew assembled by Mbizo for a session in Stockholm in late 1979 - early 1980. Most of the South Africans on the record were living in Sweden at the time, including Mbizo while Pukwana flew in from London for the session. Kenny Haakonson, guitarist with the prog rock outfit Kebnekajse was roped in as well as drummer Bosse Skoglund, old chums of Mbizo.

What we have here is one side of Mbizo compositions drawing on the popular SA music of the 50s and later, one traditional (in fact the same tune as the one on the Zila album posted previously), one quickie fusion number and then the odd one out, I thought, "Kalahari", named after the Botswana desert. Here Haakonson gets to do a proggish uptempo piece which would not out of place on a Kebnekajse record from the 70s, though normally not associated with Mbizo, though . Mbizo has vacated the bass for keyboards and handles vocal duties on this record.