Jazzman: Another kind of blue

The house is a shade of orange, oxidised by the sun. Louis Moholo-Moholo, 73, is on the balcony, packing for a tour. Vivaldi springs from a small radio on the stairs leading up to his study. Lining the walls and on tables is a visual archive of South African jazz: photographs, certificates, gig posters.

Moholo-Moholo returned to South Africa in 2005 after 48 years in exile. He is restless, unwilling to sit still.

"[The night I decided to leave South Africa] I was playing with some white guys. They were at the front of the stage while I played behind a curtain. I could not be seen. Even my mother could not see me play."

Moholo-Moholo speaks of "other folk who wanted to leave", but first they started the jazz band, The Blue Notes. In 1964 amidst heavy-lidded lies, smoke and ashes, gunpowder and bullets, the six musicians headed to Europe. Johnny Dyani packed his bass, Mongezi Feza his trumpet, Chris McGregor a piano, Moholo-Moholo a drum kit, Dudu Pukwana a saxophone, and Nikele (Nik) Moyake his tenor sax.

"First chance we got, first chance. They were arresting our development, and they were so keen on doing it . so serious, it scared us man. To preserve the music, and everything else, we decided to go overseas and explore. And we did it in pain."

Though the mention of pain enters this conversation like an after-thought, it haunts everything. It hangs off the cadence of every syllable, sits in puddles on every drum skin, and you can hear it in every horn note.

"You know, sometimes they say that, as a musician and a poet, you should leave your country. That it's like going up the mountain, so you can see the tree for the forest. But exile is a mother-f****r."

Moholo-Moholo is the only surviving member of The Blue Notes.

"The music I play is like the hidden force of the universe. I've heard it bring down the Berlin Wall and sink apartheid."

He gets up and walks across his living room, an old-school swing in his step.

"I'm too old now, and I'm also young. I'm new to this South Africa," he says. "The young guys like Mandla [Mlangeni, 28] are the future; I'm looking to them now."

Tune In

MOHOLO-MOHOLO will play with trumpeter Mandla Mlangeni at the Mahogany Room in Cape Town tonight at 8pm and with Andile Yeyana at True Italic tomorrow at 9pm. In an effort to preserve South Africa's musical heritage, and to pay homage to our greats, Mlangeni, 28, collaborates with jazz legends.