Johnny Mbizo Dyani - Grandmother's Teaching

Here is a rare item which has been confounding me for a while. A Johnny Dyani discography on the net lists this as being released on the ITM label in Germany. Having got the item, I found that it was actually a tribute record to Dyani from a group led to Marilyn Mazur, but with Chris McGregor and Harry Beckett guesting on a couple of tracks.

So, further research led me to this record which is another "Grandmother's Teaching" on the JAM Disques 0582/JD030 (France) label. And this is the real deal.

This album has six tracks:

1. Blues For Bra Dick
2. I Will Let The Spring To Explain
3. Open Ballad To Mandela
4. Grandmother's Teaching
5. Zalis Idinga
6. Majikas Bhekane

Composition credits are not provided on the record; most likely all are by Dyani. Recording details not provided either; most likely 1982 or at any rate, the early 80s.

Line-up:

Butch Morris, cornet;
Doudou Gouirand, alto saxophone;
Pierre Dørge, guitar;
Johnny Dyani, bass, voice;
Makaya Ntshoko, drums

Gouirand is French presumably and has done a few more records on the same label; Dørge is Danish and has recorded other albums with Dyani, mostly on Steeplechase; Morris is well-known having played with many prominent free jazzers in the 70s and beyond and Ntshoko has recorded with other members of the Blue Notes and their UK associates on the Ogun label.

"Blues for Bra Dick" kicks off the proceedings in a funky mode with a Dyani groove that drives the soloists along. "I will let the Spring" sounds like something that would not be out of place on a "Nordic" ECM album with a plaintive, evocative theme which could have been signed by Garbarek or Vesala or Stanko. "Mandela" is as the title indicates, a slow, somber and pensive ballad. "Zalis Idinga" starts off in similar somber fashion, but picks up speed after a short while and returns to the ballad theme at the end. "Majikas Bhekane" is classic kwela with the band in swinging mode and Dyani intoning over the rest. That leaves the title track which is truly something else. Dyani starts off in acapella and is slowly joined by percussion and then bass which leads into a duet and and fades out, unfortunately after about 11 minutes. This is an astounding vocal performance which I can't recall having heard on any other Dyani record. Worth the price of admission alone. Truly stunning!