Johnny Dyani

Johnny Mbizo Dyani (30 November 1945 - 24 October 1986) was a South African jazz double bassist and pianist who played with such musicians as Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, David Murray and Leo Smith.

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, with Mongezi Feza on trumpet, Dudu Pukwana on alto saxophone, Nikele Moyake on tenor saxophone, Chris McGregor on piano, and Louis Moholo on drums. 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.

In 1966, Dyani toured Argentina with Steve Lacy'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 label. He recorded with Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim), Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, David Murray, Joseph Jarman, Clifford Jarvis, Don Moye, Han Bennink, Brotherhood of Breath, Mal Waldron, Pierre Dørge 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. Pierre Dørge & New Jungle Orchestra's album Johnny Lives (1987) is another tribute, as is David Murray's composition Mbizo.

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

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