McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath, Chris

Eclipse at Dawn

Label: Cuneiform Country: USA

"Most folks reading this know the story of Chris and his magnificent, fun and wild big band comprised of fellow South African exiles as well as the cream of the early/mid 70s British jazz scene. During their heyday, they were only able to release two studio albums and all were out of print within a few years and despite the huge acclaim they received during from the period of about 1971-1975, Chris and the Brotherhood were basically forgotten by the time of Chris' death in 1990. Luckily, the band performed many, many concerts and a good number of these concerts were recorded. With the release of Cuneiform's two previous archival albums by Chris and the Brotherhood, starting in 2001, there was a huge acclaim for these releases. Much more importantly, retrospective notice for the band began to happen and Chris and the Brotherhood are now rightly recognized as one of the major bands annd figures of Brit-jazz in the 1970s.

Eclipse at Dawn captures the band at an early peak, performing in front of a huge, rapturous crowd at the Berliner Jazztage on November 4, 1971. Recorded by German radio, this is probably the best live recording of the Brotherhood in existence! There is a version of Dollar Brand's composition "Eclipse at Dawn", which the Brotherhood never recorded anywhere else, as well as exciting, wild, & extended versions of many favorities from their first two albums. Included in the 16 page booklet are never-before published photos from the concert and liner notes."-Cuneiform