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Johnny Mbizo Dyani (30 November 1945 – 24 October 1986) was a South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
n jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 double bass
Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
ist and pianist who played with such musicians as Don Cherry
Don Cherry (jazz)

Don Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz trumpeter whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, and who would go on to live and work with a wide variety of musicians in many parts of the world....
, Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy

This article is about the jazz musician. For the CEO of Meredith, see Steve Lacy .Steve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York, was a jazz saxophone....
, David Murray
David Murray (jazz musician)

David Murray is an American jazz musician. Murray plays mainly tenor saxophone and sometimes bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically on a variety of labels since the mid-1970s....
 and Leo Smith
Wadada Leo Smith

Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith is a trumpeter and composer working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. He started out playing drums, mellophone, and French horn before he settled on the trumpet....
.

He was born and grew up in Duncan Village, a township of the South African city of East London.

In the early 1960s he was a member of South Africa's first integrated jazz band The Blue Notes
The Blue Notes

The Blue Notes were a South African jazz sextet, whose definitive line up featured Chris McGregor on piano, Mongezi Feza on trumpet, Dudu Pukwana on alto saxophone, Nikele Moyake on tenor saxophone, Johnny Dyani on bass, and Louis Moholo on drums....
, with Mongezi Feza
Mongezi Feza

Mongezi Feza was a South African jazz trumpet player and flautist.A member of The Blue Notes, he left South Africa in 1964 and settled in Europe, living in London and Copenhagen....
 on trumpet
Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
, Dudu Pukwana
Dudu Pukwana

Mtutuzel Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophone player, pianist and composer, though he is not known for his piano playing at all....
 on alto saxophone
Alto saxophone

The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by the Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax. The alto, with the Tenor saxophone, is the most common size of saxophone....
, Nikele Moyake
Nikele Moyake

Nikele Moyake was a jazz musician from South Africa, who played tenor saxophone in the legendary sextet The Blue Notes alongside Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo....
 on tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone

The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the Alto saxophone, is the most common size of saxophone....
, Chris McGregor
Chris McGregor

Christopher McGregor , was a South Africa jazz pianist, bandleader and composer born in Somerset West, South Africa....
 on piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
, and Louis Moholo
Louis Moholo

Louis Tebugo Moholo , is a South African jazz drummer.He formed The Blue Notes with Chris McGregor, Johnny Dyani, Nikele Moyake, Mongezi Feza and Dudu Pukwana, and emigrated to Europe with them in 1964, eventually settling in London, where he formed part of a South African exile community that made an important contribution to British jazz....
 on drums
Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
.






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Johnny Mbizo Dyani (30 November 1945 – 24 October 1986) was a South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
n jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 double bass
Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
ist and pianist who played with such musicians as Don Cherry
Don Cherry (jazz)

Don Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz trumpeter whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, and who would go on to live and work with a wide variety of musicians in many parts of the world....
, Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy

This article is about the jazz musician. For the CEO of Meredith, see Steve Lacy .Steve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York, was a jazz saxophone....
, David Murray
David Murray (jazz musician)

David Murray is an American jazz musician. Murray plays mainly tenor saxophone and sometimes bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically on a variety of labels since the mid-1970s....
 and Leo Smith
Wadada Leo Smith

Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith is a trumpeter and composer working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. He started out playing drums, mellophone, and French horn before he settled on the trumpet....
.

He was born and grew up in Duncan Village, a township of the South African city of East London.

In the early 1960s he was a member of South Africa's first integrated jazz band The Blue Notes
The Blue Notes

The Blue Notes were a South African jazz sextet, whose definitive line up featured Chris McGregor on piano, Mongezi Feza on trumpet, Dudu Pukwana on alto saxophone, Nikele Moyake on tenor saxophone, Johnny Dyani on bass, and Louis Moholo on drums....
, with Mongezi Feza
Mongezi Feza

Mongezi Feza was a South African jazz trumpet player and flautist.A member of The Blue Notes, he left South Africa in 1964 and settled in Europe, living in London and Copenhagen....
 on trumpet
Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
, Dudu Pukwana
Dudu Pukwana

Mtutuzel Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophone player, pianist and composer, though he is not known for his piano playing at all....
 on alto saxophone
Alto saxophone

The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by the Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax. The alto, with the Tenor saxophone, is the most common size of saxophone....
, Nikele Moyake
Nikele Moyake

Nikele Moyake was a jazz musician from South Africa, who played tenor saxophone in the legendary sextet The Blue Notes alongside Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo....
 on tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone

The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the Alto saxophone, is the most common size of saxophone....
, Chris McGregor
Chris McGregor

Christopher McGregor , was a South Africa jazz pianist, bandleader and composer born in Somerset West, South Africa....
 on piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
, and Louis Moholo
Louis Moholo

Louis Tebugo Moholo , is a South African jazz drummer.He formed The Blue Notes with Chris McGregor, Johnny Dyani, Nikele Moyake, Mongezi Feza and Dudu Pukwana, and emigrated to Europe with them in 1964, eventually settling in London, where he formed part of a South African exile community that made an important contribution to British jazz....
 on drums
Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
. The band fled South Africa in 1964 to seek musical and political freedom.

"We were rebels and we were trying to run away from this apartheid thing. We rebelled against the apartheid regime that whites and blacks couldn't play together. We stood up," said Louis Moholo
Louis Moholo

Louis Tebugo Moholo , is a South African jazz drummer.He formed The Blue Notes with Chris McGregor, Johnny Dyani, Nikele Moyake, Mongezi Feza and Dudu Pukwana, and emigrated to Europe with them in 1964, eventually settling in London, where he formed part of a South African exile community that made an important contribution to British jazz....
.

In 1966, Dyani toured Argentina with Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy

This article is about the jazz musician. For the CEO of Meredith, see Steve Lacy .Steve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York, was a jazz saxophone....
's quartet. Lacy, Dyani and Moholo recorded "The Forest and the Zoo" (ESP).

He later moved to Denmark and Sweden, recording many albums under his own name, often on the Steeplechase
Steeplechase

Steeplechase may refer to:* Steeplechase, an event in horse racing* Steeplechase , an event in athletics that derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing...
 label. He recorded with Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim), Don Cherry
Don Cherry (jazz)

Don Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz trumpeter whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, and who would go on to live and work with a wide variety of musicians in many parts of the world....
, Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy

This article is about the jazz musician. For the CEO of Meredith, see Steve Lacy .Steve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York, was a jazz saxophone....
, David Murray
David Murray (jazz musician)

David Murray is an American jazz musician. Murray plays mainly tenor saxophone and sometimes bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically on a variety of labels since the mid-1970s....
, Joseph Jarman
Joseph Jarman

Joseph Jarman , is a jazz musician, composer and Jodo Shinshu priest. He is perhaps best known as one of the first members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and the Art Ensemble of Chicago....
, Clifford Jarvis
Clifford Jarvis

Clifford Jarvis was an United States hard bop and free jazz drummer.After studying at Berklee College of Music in the 1950s he established himself in jazz between 1959 and 1966 by recording with Chet Baker, Randy Weston, Yusef Lateef, Freddie Hubbard, Barry Harris, Jackie McLean, and Elmo Hope, and playing with Grant Green and Rahsaan Rola...
, Don Moye
Don Moye

Don Moye, sometimes referred to as Famoudou Don Moye, is an United States jazz percussionist/drummer. He is most known for his involvement with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and is noted for his mastery of African and Caribbean percussion instruments and rhythmic techniques....
, Han Bennink
Han Bennink

Han Bennink is a Netherlands jazz drummer, percussionist. He is also a talented multi-instrumentalist, and on occasion his recordings have featured his playing on clarinet, violin, banjo and piano....
, Brotherhood of Breath
Brotherhood of Breath

The Brotherhood of Breath was a big-band created by Chris McGregor at the end of the 1960s, essentially an extension of McGregor's previous band The Blue Notes....
, Mal Waldron
Mal Waldron

Malcolm Earl Waldron was an United States jazz and world music pianist and composer, born in New York City.His jazz work was chiefly in the hard bop, post-bebop and free jazz genres....
, Pierre Dørge
Pierre Dørge

Pierre D?rge is a Denmark avant-garde jazz guitarist, bandleader and composer born in Copenhagen, Denmark. As leader of New Jungle Orchestra he created a unique and playful combination of traditional and modern jazz with Highlife west-african guitar music....
 and many others.

After his death the remaining members of The Blue Notes reunited to record a moving tribute album Blue Notes For Johnny on the label Ogun Records
Ogun Records

Ogun Records is a record label created by the husband and wife team of Hazel Miller and Harry Miller , to document the music being created by a group of open-minded musicians in London in the early 1970s....
. Pierre Dørge & New Jungle Orchestra's album Johnny Lives (1987) is another tribute, as is David Murray's composition Mbizo.

In a memorial published in the South African magazine Rixaka, Pallo Jordan writes, "above all, his music resounded with a joy in life."

Partial Discography

  • 1964: The Blue Notes Legacy - Live In South Afrika 1964   (Ogun) - released in 1995
  • 1967: Steve Lacy
    Steve Lacy

    This article is about the jazz musician. For the CEO of Meredith, see Steve Lacy .Steve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York, was a jazz saxophone....
     - The Forest And The Zoo
    The Forest And The Zoo

    The Forest and the Zoo is the first live album by Steve Lacy and was released on the ESP-Disk label in 1967. It features a concert performance recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina by Lacy, Enrico Rava, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo....
     (ESP-Disk
    ESP-Disk

    'ESP-Disk' is a New York-based record label, founded in 1966 in music by lawyer ESP-Disk. From the beginning, the label's goal has been to provide its recording artists with complete artistic freedom, unimpeded by any record company interference or commercial expectations -- a philosophy summed-up the ESP motto, printed on every release: ?The...
    )
  • 1978: Johnny Dyani with John Tchicai
    John Tchicai

    John Martin Tchicai is a Denmark jazz saxophonist. He was one of the earliest European free jazz musicians. He is of Danish and Congolese descent....
     & Dudu Pukwana
    Dudu Pukwana

    Mtutuzel Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophone player, pianist and composer, though he is not known for his piano playing at all....
     - Witchdoctor's Son   (SteepleChase)
  • 1978: Johnny Dyani Quartet - Song For Biko   (SteepleChase) - with Don Cherry and Dudu Pukwana
    Dudu Pukwana

    Mtutuzel Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophone player, pianist and composer, though he is not known for his piano playing at all....
  • 1978: Johnny Dyani & David Murray - Let The Music Take You   (Marge 04)
  • 1981: Johnny Dyani & Mal Waldron duo Live at Jazz Unité - Some Jive Ass Boer   (Jazz Unité 102)
  • 1984: Pierre Dørge & New Jungle Orchestra - Brikama   (SteepleChase)
  • 1985: Pierre Dørge & New Jungle Orchestra - Even The Moon Is Dancing   (SteepleChase)
  • 1986: Johnny Dyani Quartet - Angolian Cry   (SteepleChase 31209)


External links