The Brotherhood of Breath was a big-band created in the late 1960s by South African pianist/composer Chris McGregor

Chris McGregor

Christopher McGregor , was a South African jazz pianist, bandleader and composer born in Somerset West, South Africa.- Early influences :...

 (1936-1990), essentially an extension of McGregor's previous 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...

.

The Brotherhood of Breath included many members of the South African expatriate community resident in London, including McGregor himself, 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...

, Harry Miller

Harry Miller (jazz bassist)

Harold Simon 'Harry' Miller was a South African jazz bass player.Miller began his career as a bassist with Manfred Mann, and came to settle in London...

, Mongezi Feza

Mongezi Feza

Mongezi Feza was a South African jazz trumpet player and flautist.-Biography:Feza was born in Queenstown, South Africa in 1945. A member of The Blue Notes, he left South Africa in 1964 and settled in Europe, living in London and Copenhagen. As a trumpeter, his influences included hard bopper...

, Dudu Pukwana

Dudu Pukwana

Mtutuzel Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophonist, composer and pianist .-Early years in South Africa:...

, (occasionally) Johnny Dyani

Johnny Dyani

Johnny Mbizo Dyani was a South African jazz double bassist and pianist, who played with such musicians as Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, David Murray and Leo Smith....

; and many of the free jazz musicians who were based in London at the same time: Lol Coxhill

Lol Coxhill

Lowen Coxhill, generally known as Lol Coxhill is a free improvising saxophonist and raconteur...

, Evan Parker

Evan Parker

Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...

, Paul Rutherford

Paul Rutherford (trombone player)

Paul William Rutherford was an English free improvising trombonist.-Biography:Born in Greenwich, South East London, Rutherford initially played saxophone but switched to trombone...

, Harry Beckett

Harry Beckett

Harold Winston "Harry" Beckett was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player.-Biography:A resident in the UK since 1954, Harry Beckett had an international reputation. In 1961, he played with Charles Mingus in the film All Night Long. In the 1960s he worked and recorded within the band of bass...

, Marc Charig

Marc Charig

Mark Charig is a British trumpeter and cornetist.He was particularly active in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he played in settings as diverse as Long John Baldry's group, Bluesology, Soft Machine, and Keith Tippett's group and his Centipede big band...

, Alan Skidmore

Alan Skidmore

Alan Skidmore is a tenor saxophonist of jazz and blues music, son of the saxophonist Jimmy Skidmore.-As a sideman:...

, Mike Osborne

Mike Osborne

Michael Evans Osborne was an English jazz alto saxophonist, pianist and clarinetist, perhaps most noteworthy for his contributions as a member to the Chris McGregor band Brotherhood of Breath in the 1960s and 1970s.He was born in Hereford and attended Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire and the...

, Elton Dean

Elton Dean

Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....

, Nick Evans

Nick Evans (trombonist)

Nicholas "Nick" Evans is a Welsh jazz and progressive rock trombonist.- Career :He worked in the Graham Collier Sextet , Keith Tippett Group , Soft Machine , Brotherhood of Breath , Centipede , Just Us , Ambush , Ninesense , Intercontinental Express , Ark Nicholas "Nick" Evans (born 1947 in...

, and John Surman

John Surman

John Douglas Surman is an English jazz saxophone, bass clarinet and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music as a basis...

. The personnel was fluid, depending on who was available. The music resembles a mixture of the hard-driving blues of Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...

 and the wild experimentalism of Sun Ra

Sun Ra

Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...

, but retains a unique feel due to the South African influences and the intelligent arrangements.

The original Brotherhood Of Breath ended in the late 70's, with the deaths of Mongezi Feza

Mongezi Feza

Mongezi Feza was a South African jazz trumpet player and flautist.-Biography:Feza was born in Queenstown, South Africa in 1945. A member of The Blue Notes, he left South Africa in 1964 and settled in Europe, living in London and Copenhagen. As a trumpeter, his influences included hard bopper...

 and Harry Miller

Harry Miller

Harry Miller may refer to:*Harry Miller , American basketball player *Harry Miller , American college basketball coach at North Texas, Wichita State, Stephen F...

 (whose 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....

, released some of the Brotherhood's albums.) McGregor formed a second version of the group in France in the early 80's. In 1987, a third edition was formed with African and British musicians such as Annie Whitehead

Annie Whitehead

Annie Whitehead is an English jazz trombone player.-Career:Annie learned trombone at school; at 14 she was already busy playing with brass bands, local dance groups and the Manchester Youth Jazz Orchestra and began her professional career at sixteen. Among her initial influences were Miles Davis,...

. In this incarnation the music was more tightly arranged and controlled, with less free improvisation

Free improvisation

Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....

.

Discography

• "Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath" (RCA Neon 1971)
• "Brotherhood" (RCA 1972)
• "From Bremen To Bridgewater" (1971/1975; Cuneiform Rune 182/183 - 2004)
• "Travelling Somewhere" (1973; Cuneiform Rune 152 - 2001)
• "Live at Willisau" (OGUN 100 1974)
• "Procession" (Ogun 524 1978)
• "Yes Please" (In and Out 1981)
• "Country Cooking" (GW3106AR 1988)
• "En Concert a Banlieues Bleues (with Archie Shepp
  Archie Shepp
  Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
  
  - Rue Est CD 017 - 1989)