Rock Bottom For Forty Years

Today we celebrate that Robert Wyatt´s album "Rock Bottom" (Virgin 26 July, 1974) has been in this world for 40 years, and is still sounding fresh!

The personnel (what a gang!):

Robert Wyatt – vocals, keyboards, percussion, slide guitar
Mike Oldfield – guitar
Gary Windo – bass clarinet, tenor sax
Ivor Cutler – voice, baritone concertina, harmonium
Alfreda Benge – voice
Mongezi Feza – trumpets
Fred Frith – viola
Hugh Hopper – bass guitar
Richard Sinclair – bass guitar
Laurie Allan – drums

Nick Mason: Producer

Alfreda Benge: Cover (both original and 1998 re-issue)

The very same day that "Rock Bottom" was released, Robert Wyatt and Alfreda Benge got married. Congratulations to them on their 40th wedding day!

The Dedication Orchestra play "Ithi Gqi"

We had a post on The Dedication Orchestra playing The Blue Notes (at Verona Jazz 2001) back in April, and now Bergi57 uploaded another one. This time they play "Ithi Gqi" by Johnny Dyani.

Read more on The Blue Notes over here, and according to this page, the version of The Dedication Orchestra playing in Verona was:

TEATRO ROMANO, VERONA, ITALY
22nd June, 2001
‘JAZZ 2001’
THE DEDICATION ORCHESTRA
Maggie Nichols, Julie Tippetts, Phil Minton, Francine Luce – voices; Harry Beckett, Henry Lowther, Kenny Wheeler, Jim Dvorak – trumpets; Mark Charig - cornet; Malcolm Griffiths, Paul Rutherford, Alan Tomlinson, Dave Amis – trombones, Dave Powell – tuba; Trevor Watts – alto; Elton Dean – alto; Lol Coxhill – soprano sax; Neil Metcalfe –flute; Sean Bergin – alto & tenor; Larry Stabbins – tenor sax; Julian Arguelles – baritone sax; Keith Tippett – piano; Roy Babbington – double bass; Louis Moholo – drums; Steve Beresford – director.

The Dedication Orchestra

Bergi57 recently posted three videos of The Dedication Orchestra playing at Verona Jazz 2001.

The videos are not exactly high quality, but what a gang playing material by The Blue Notes!
In this blog post you may watch "Andromeda" (Chris McGregor), and you may also see "Sondela" (Mongezi Feza) and "Traumatic Experience" (Harry Miller) on YouTube.

Read more on The Blue Notes over here, and according to this page, the version of The Dedication Orchestra playing in Verona was:

TEATRO ROMANO, VERONA, ITALY
22nd June, 2001
‘JAZZ 2001’
THE DEDICATION ORCHESTRA
Maggie Nichols, Julie Tippetts, Phil Minton, Francine Luce – voices; Harry Beckett, Henry Lowther, Kenny Wheeler, Jim Dvorak – trumpets; Mark Charig - cornet; Malcolm Griffiths, Paul Rutherford, Alan Tomlinson, Dave Amis – trombones, Dave Powell – tuba; Trevor Watts – alto; Elton Dean – alto; Lol Coxhill – soprano sax; Neil Metcalfe –flute; Sean Bergin – alto & tenor; Larry Stabbins – tenor sax; Julian Arguelles – baritone sax; Keith Tippett – piano; Roy Babbington – double bass; Louis Moholo – drums; Steve Beresford – director.

The Thing & Joe McPhee in Brazil

The Thing & Joe McPhee dedicated Mongezi Feza´s beautiful "You Ain't Gonna Know Me 'Cos You Think You Know Me" to Nelson Mandela, when they played in Santos, Brazil (27 June 2013) (YouTube).

Brotherhood of Breath

Last year Fledg'ling reissued several of the South African pianist Chris Mcgregor's (1936-1990) albums. I've got the big band Brotherhood of Breath sso far, and it's damned good stuff! Check out "Brotherhood of Breath" (1970) and "Brotherhood" (1972). In the band you'll find people who are famous among free jazz-, Canterbury- and Robert Wyatt listeners:
Chris McGregor ~ leader, piano, African xylophone
Malcolm Griffiths ~ trombone
Nick Evans ~ trombone
Mongezi Feza - pocket trumpet, Indian flute
Mark Charig ~ cornet
Harry Beckett ~ trumpet
Dudu Pukana ~ alto saxophone
Ronnie Beer ~ tenor saxophone, Indian flute
Alan Skidmore ~ tenor and soprano saxophone
Harry Miller ~ bass
Louis Moholo ~ drums, percussion
Mike Osborne ~ alto saxophone, clarinet
Gary Windo ~ saxophone ("Brotherhood")
John Surman ~ baritone and soprano ("Brotherhood of Breath").
Brotherhood of Breath developed from McGregor's band The Blue Notes, and if you are interested you may study them on a 5 CD box from Ogun (October 2008).
More on Chris McGregor in Wikipedia and in Ian Carr's "Music Outside".

Mongezi Feza

The South African trumpet player Mongezi Feza (1945-1975) guests on several Wyatt records. He is on "Rock Bottom", "Ruth is Stranger than Richard" (composed "Sonia") and the live album "Theatre Drury Lane".
If you can take some noise, please check out the Norwegian album "Two bands and a legend, featuring Cato Salsa Experience and The Thing with Joe McPhee", on Smalltown Superjazz. They play Feza's composition "You Ain't Gonna Know Me ('Cause You Think You Know Me)", and also covers PJ Harvey ("Who the fuck?"), James Blood Ulmer ("Baby Talk), The Cramps ("I can't find my mind") and Richard Berry ("Louie Louie").