12/05/2021
Happy birthday to South African jazz trumpeter and flautist Mongezi Feza (May 11, 1945 – December 14, 1975).
Feza was born in Queenstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa, on 11 May 1945, into a family of musicians, His elder brother, Sandi Feza, who taught him how to play the trumpet in the dusty streets of Mlungisi township in Queenstown.
A member of The Blue Notes, Feza left South Africa in 1964 and settled in Europe, living in London and Copenhagen. As a trumpeter, his influences included hard bopper Clifford Brown and free jazz pioneer Don Cherry. After The Blue Notes splintered in the late 1960s, he played with British rock musician Robert Wyatt, progressive rock band Henry Cow, and most extensively with fellow ex-Blue Notes musicians Johnny Dyani, Chris McGregor and Dudu Pukwana. Feza's compositions "Sonia" and "You Ain't Gonna Know Me ('Cos You Think You Know Me)" remained in the repertoire of his colleagues long after his death. In the early 1970s, Feza was also member of the afro-rock band Assagai.
Feza died in London, in December 1975, from untreated pneumonia.
