Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
Keeping the Flame at Van Gelder Studio
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
Louis Moholo-Moholo formed The Blue Notes with Johnny Dyani, Mongezi Feza, Chris McGregor, Nikele Moyake and Dudu Pukwana, a group that championed free-jazz with an African sensibility during the 1960s and ’70s.
(Photo: Michael Jackson)Louis Moholo-Moholo, a legendary South African drummer, passed away June 13 in Cape Town, South Africa. He was 85. Born Louis Tebogo Moholo on March 10, 1940, Moholo-Moholo formed The Blue Notes with Johnny Dyani, Mongezi Feza, Chris McGregor, Nikele Moyake and Dudu Pukwana, a group that championed free-jazz with an African sensibility during the 1960s and ’70s. The group fled the oppression of South Africa in 1964, eventually settling in the United Kingdom and becoming key members of the British jazz scene of the ’60s.
“Louis was more than just South Africa’s greatest living jazz drummer — he was a revolutionary rhythm-maker, a sonic freedom fighter and a keeper of ancestral memory,” said fellow South African drummer Kesivan Naidoo in a tribute to his mentor on Facebook. “He carved sound from silence and turned drums into language, prayer, protest and poetry. Every beat he struck carried the thunder of exile, the ache of home and the joy of resistance. He did not simply play music — he channeled it.”
“It is with the deepest sadness that we learned today that Louis Moholo-Moholo, original Ogun artist, master drummer, our beloved Tebs, died peacefully at home in South Africa today. Rest in peace, Bra,” read a post from Ogun Records, which produced his first recording as a leader, Louis Moholo: Spirits Rejoice!, in 1978.
Moholo-Moholo recorded with a wide array of the biggest names in adventurous music: Sibanye (We Are One) (Intakt) with Marilyn Crispell; The Nearer The Bone, The Sweeter The Meat (FMP) with Peter Brötzmann and Harry Miller; Remembrance (FMP) with Cecil Taylor; Ancestors (TUM) with Wadada Leo Smith; Foxes Fox (Emanem) with Evan Parker, Steve Beresford and John Edwards; and, Keep Your Heart Straight (Ogun) with Alexander Hawkins, to name a few.
A family statement noted, “Louis was more than a pioneering musician — he was a mentor and a friend. As a drummer, composer and fearless voice for artistic freedom, Louis inspired generations through his groundbreaking contributions to South African and global jazz. From the townships of Cape Town to the stages of London and beyond, his rhythms spoke of resistance, liberation and the boundless power of creativity.”
Prior to his passing, Ogun had announced that Moholo-Moholo’s Viva-La-Black, released in 1988, has been remastered and released for the first time on CD.
Photographer, writer and editor Mitchell Seidel passed away on June 2 at the Bayonne Medical Center in New Jersey after a struggle with congestive heart failure. He was 68.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Seidel spent his professional career in journalism working for the Bergen Record, the Hudson Times and for decades with the Newark Star Ledger before retiring. In the jazz world, Seidel contributed to a variety of publications, including DownBeat. His jazz photography garnered many awards and accolades. He was also an active member of the New Jersey Jazz Society.
Seidel had a quick, cutting wit and an eye for capturing artists in the moment. He had a deep passion for the music and the people who played it. DB
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
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