Album: Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath

In the mid-Sixties, tired of struggling to work as a multi-racial band in South Africa, Chris McGregor's Blue Notes came to London, where they became the kernel of a larger band, Brotherhood of Breath. These exiles brought a dashing new spirit to a UK jazz scene still fighting Fifties battles between traditionalists and beboppers, with the Brotherhood's joyous African themes, tight riffing and experimental proclivities of John Surman, Dudu Pukwana and Mongezi Feza. The tone on these albums from 1971/72 is ebullient, with the layered horns on "Nick Tete" and "MRA" interlocking, while longer work-outs such as 20-minute "Night Poem" and Brotherhood's 14-minute "Joyful Noises", display dazzling blends of fast ensemble riffing, louche tonalities and McGregor's bravura pianistics. The results are high-water-marks which, some believe, UK jazz has struggled to equal.

DOWNLOAD THIS: 'Nick Tete', 'Joyful Noises', 'MRA', 'Davashe's Dream'