Biography
Mongezi Feza took up the trumpet at a tender age and had already turned professional by his teenage years, performing in ensembles that competed in the era’s most prominent jazz events. Chris McGregor discovered him during one of those contests and recruited him for the Blue Notes; the group left South Africa together in 1964, making their initial appearance at the Antibes Jazz Festival before continuing to Zurich, London, and Copenhagen. Feza remained part of the bands McGregor directed and also collaborated with Dudu Pukwana in the early 1970s within the lineups of Assagai and Spear. On the 1975 Caroline release Flute Music he contributes flute and percussion across four original pieces, among them the luminous “Sondela.” His trumpet can be heard in Keith Tippett’s expansive Centipede on the 1971 RCA album Septober Energy, on Robert Wyatt’s 1975 Virgin recording Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard, and on the Virgin 1974 sessions Desperate Straights and In Praise of Learning alongside Fred Frith in Henry Cow. Johnny Dyani asked Feza in 1972 to complete the trio Xaba alongside Turkish percussionist Okay Temiz. One of Feza’s final studio dates, Diamond Express, issued by Freedom in 1977, reunited him with Dudu Pukwana. He died in 1975 after suffering a nervous disorder compounded by untreated pneumonia; associates felt the London hospital had not given his symptoms adequate attention. Explosive yet lyrical in approach, Feza drew deep inspiration from the playing of Clifford Brown and Booker Little. His free improvisations, colored by kwela rhythms and African melodic traditions, display remarkable ingenuity. The European jazz community lost one of its most distinctive voices—and a figure cherished by listeners and fellow musicians—when Feza passed away so young.
Albums
