Mongezi Feza

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Mongezi Feza (1945 – 14 December 1975) was a South African jazz trumpet player and flautist.

A member of The Blue Notes, he 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 Johnny Dyani, Chris McGregor and Dudu Pukwana. His compositions 'Sonia' and 'You Ain't Gonna Know Me ('Cause 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.

He died in 1975 of untreated pneumonia, but many contemporaries believe his death was brought on equally by psychiatric problems which were ignored by the British medical services, leading to a severe decline in his physical health.

[edit] References

Philippe Carles, André Clergeat, and Jean-Louis Comolli, Dictionnaire du jazz, Paris, 1994