Jan Carel FourieMojapelo, Max.
Beyond Memory: Recording the History, Moments and Memories of South African Music
', p. 290 (African Minds, 2008). (1937 – 2007) was a South African

jazz guitar Jazz guitar may refer to either a type of electric guitar or a guitar playing style in jazz, using electric amplification to increase the volume of acoustic guitars. In the early 1930s, jazz musicians sought to amplify their sound to be hear ...

ist born in Postmas in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

province.

Biography

Growing up in the town of Benoni in the

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

province of South Africa, his first passion for music came while watching

cowboy movies The Western is a genre Setting (narrative), set in the American frontier and commonly associated with Americana (culture), folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and ...

and Fourie wanted to imitate the sound of the musicians. After hearing the

George Shearing Quintet George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

in 1949, he focused on jazz music. Schadeberg, Jurgen.
Jazz, Blues & Swing: Six Decades of Music in South Africa
', p. 151 (New Africa Books, 2007). At the age of 15, he left his parents' house in order to pursue his career in

playing. His first gigs were with Boeremusiek (traditional

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

music) bands, and he quickly gained recognition as a great guitarist in the Johannesburg music scene of the 1950s. In 1961, Fourie took a boat to London. In the first two weeks, his money ran out and his wife was becoming desperate. Fourie then got his first gig playing with an

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

an violinist at the Blue Boar Inn. He described the situation: "What I saw in Soho forced me to leave in November on a boat destined for London with my wife and baby and about two hundred Rand". A short while after this, Fourie auditioned for the Ray Ellington Quartet of ''

The Goon Show ''The Goon Show'' is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September 19 ...

'' fame, and worked in London with jazz greats like Ellington and

Tubby Hayes Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes (30 January 1935 – 8 June 1973) was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar. Early life H ...

. Following the end of apartheid, he became a professor of jazz at the Technikon University in Pretoria, and told his students about the Ellington audition: "This was the biggest test of my life. It was a make or break period. I could not read the notes and initially I was turned down, but when they heard me play they told me that they would like me to perform. I was very exhilarated, but had no ability to read music. I had two weeks to memorize four years of work. It was the moment of truth and I passed!" After this, Fourie become the resident guitarist for the esteemed jazz club, Ronnie Scott's. Here, he was exposed to

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

, Jim Hall, René Thomas,

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...

Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...

, Roland Kirk and

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a ...

, among others. After London, he returned to South Africa to go and practice the new style of jazz fusion, which began its growth during the 1970s. After this, he briefly settled in New York, where he worked with

John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaugh ...

, the famous British jazz/fusion guitarist. He then taught students the guitar in South Africa for the remainder of his career. Fourie formed a band with friends Johnny Boshoff and Hennie Becker and played covers of John Mclaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra at The Branch Office club in Johannesburg. McLaughlin said of him: "Johnny Fourie is one of the greatest guitar players of our époque."

References

External links

Johnny Fourie - a detailed biography
by Jonathan Crossley (first published in Rootz Magazine 2002)
Obituary
(20 August 2007, ''Mail & Guardian'')
"Memories of a Guitar Master: Johnny Fourie"
by Stefan Joubert (student of Johnny Fourie) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fourie, Johnny South African jazz guitarists 2007 deaths 1937 births 20th-century guitarists Musicians from Gauteng

Biography

References

Further reading

External links