Louis Moholo-Moholo
Cafe Oto, London

LOUIS MOHOLO-MOHOLO'S incendiary and subtle Cape Town drums have been awakening London since the arrival of the Blue Notes from apartheid-cursed South Africa in 1965. They fuelled the anti-apartheid movement and brought entirely new and free African melodies, rhythms and forms to the heart of European jazz.

Now 78, he comes to Cafe Oto with musicians two generations younger — Caribbean-rooted saxophonist Jason Yarde, rampaging Hounslow bassist John Edwards and Oxford pianist Alex Hawkins.

Their opener, an astonishing adaptation of Dikeledi Tsa Phelo by South African pianist Pule Pheto lasts an hour, with the foursome voyaging in and out of the tune through explosive and ever-inventive improvisation, township riffs, hymnal reflections, snatches of themes by Chris McGregor and Abdullah Ibrahim and an evocative chorus of the anthem Nkosi Sikeleli Afrika.

Edwards's strings pulsate, plummeting as if his bass were on springs next to the black lightning of Moholo-Moholo's ageless drums. Yarde switches between alto, soprano and baritone saxophones, with echoes of Dudu Pukwana, the Jamaican timbre of Joe Harriott and the marching street fire of Albert Ayler.

Hawkins's rampant command over his keys, his throbbing fluency and sudden moments of almost sacred beauty brings the power of Don Pullen's pianism to mind.

And in their own ways, they are all drummers, led by one of the great percussive griots. Edwards pounds his strings, Hawkins strikes his keys as if his fingers are mallets and Yarde drums the valves of his horns. Beside these musical tribunes is Moholo-Moholo, the booming heart of revolutionary Africa.

This marvellous band, plus tenor saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, play superbly on the new Ogun album Uplift the People, recorded live at the Cafe Oto last year. It's well worth a listen.