Assagai
Assagai
South-African jazz-rock worshippers alert! Assagai was an Afro-rock band, active in the early 1970s in London, whose relatively short career produced two albums recorded in 1971. It has been described as "the second best-known African group of the late '60s/early '70s in Britain" after Osibisa. The original band consisted of five members, three from South Africa and two from Nigeria: drummer Louis Moholo, trumpeter/flautist Mongezi Feza, alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana, tenor saxophonist Bizo Mngqikana, and guitarist/bassist Fred Coker. Assagai's self-titled debut album was released in 1971 on Vertigo; among the African musicians who played with the group on the recording was Terri Quaye. Previously, in the 1960s Pukwana, Feza and Moholo had been members of the jazz band The Blue Notes alongside Chris McGregor.