Jazz Articles about Hugh Masekela

Hugh Masekela: Grazing In The Grass

by Chris May
January 27, 2024

Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela: Rejoice

by Chris May
June 12, 2020

"Unfinished" is the kindest word to describe this album, recorded in 2010 and left on the shelf until its release was prompted after Hugh Masekela passed in 2018. It should have stayed on the shelf. The album consists of eight tracks of noodling by Masekela, accompanied by autopilot timekeeping from Tony Allen, who passed a few weeks after the album was finally released in spring 2020. Masekela and Allen had recorded the tracks unaccompanied and on the ...

Hugh Masekela: Masekela '66 - '76

by Chris May
May 11, 2019

Like his compatriot and close contemporary Abdullah Ibrahim, Hugh Masekela has a 24-carat discography which stretches back six decades and digs deep into the taproot of jazz. Ibrahim is still with us--he has a new album scheduled for June 2019--but Masekela passed in January 2018. Among the several solid Masekela compilations on the market, this 3-CD set is the most welcome. It deals with the most prolific phase of Masekela's career and brings back into circulation material from landmark albums ...

Jazz in Exile, Part One

by Seton Hawkins
September 23, 2018

South Africa's Jazz enters a period of exile following the Sharpeville Massacre. Artists like Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba and many more leave the country in order to be able to continue performing their music. Playlist Miriam Makeba “Pata Pata" from Mama Africa: The Very Best of Miriam Makeba (Manteca) 2:24 Miriam Makeba “Ndodemnyama Verwoerd" from Africa (BMG) 5:19 Gwigwi Mrwebi “Nyusamkhaya" from Kwela (Honest Jons) 10:09 Hugh Masekela “U, Dwi" from Grrr (Verve Music) 13:28 Hugh Masekela ...

Hugh Masekela Mix

by Emily Jones
February 16, 2018

(If this program is unavailable in your country from Mixcloud, please scroll down and listen via Soundcloud.) Hugh Masekela passed away just a few weeks ago at the age of 78, leaving a powerful legacy of music and activism. This month's mix showcases ten key moments in his musical life, handpicked from his 40 albums. Those moments range from playing in The Jazz Epistles at just 20 years old, to afrobeat with Fela Kuti, to what was to ...

Hugh Masekela: Strength in Music and Character

by R.J. DeLuke
January 23, 2018

This article was first published at All About Jazz in May 2009. “I think it is incumbent, not just on every artist, but every person who has as their source communities that are disadvantaged, to give back," says Hugh Masekela, antiapartheid champion, friend of the downtrodden and musician extraordinaire who is still going strong at the age of 70. “If you don't give back, I think you end up somewhere down the line looking at yourself in a ...

Hugh Masekela and Larry Willis: Phoenix, AZ, June 18, 2013

by Patricia Myers
July 3, 2013

Hugh Masekela and Larry WillisMusical Instrument MuseumPhoenix, AZJune 18, 2013A duo concert by flugelhorn master Hugh Masekela and pianist Larry Willis was billed as a salute to The Great American Songbook, but the performance offered as much storytelling as music. Masekela's endearing persona emerged as he related jazz history and his own life path, eliciting gentle laughter from the audience, many of whom may have known of him only from his 1960s pop-jazz hits “Up, ...