Hugh Masekela has had an amazing career in music. Louis Armstrong donated a trumpet to a school Masekela attended in South Africa. Who could have known at that time that a gifted young trumpeter was destined to develop into one of the most popular and influential musicians to emerge from the restrictive, albeit culturally rich, apartheid state of South Africa?

In 1960, after joining pianist Dollar Brand (later more widely known as Abdullah Ibrahim) and others in founding the Jazz Epistles, Hugh Masekela went into exile. The catalyst that flung him out of South Africa was the 1960 Sharpville Massacre during which 69 unarmed demonstrators were slaughtered by the police forces. Landing first in London before moving on to New York, Masekela attended school at Guildhall School of Music (England) and Manhatan School of Music (United States).

By the late sixties, Hugh Masekela began his recording career as a leader. In 1968 he produced a multi-million selling, major hit with “Grazin’ in the Grass.” Now in his fifth decade as a recording artist, Masekela is almost legendary.

The trumpet (and a little less so, the flugelhorn)is a brutal instrument to maintain over the decades. Few professionals are able to blow hard night after night and maintain both a creative edge and technical mastery beyond twenty years. Hugh has doubled-down on the average and is still going strong with Phola, a 2009 release, as well as with We Are One, a collaboration with South African producer and contemporary music sensation Black Coffee.

While we have featured Masekela before, this Mixtape will focus mainly on Masekela’s interpretation of USA Soul Music. What will be quickly apparent is regardless of the origins of the song, Masekela brings a brio to the music is infectious. Masekela understands that at root Soul music is dance music. Hugh makes you want to jump up and shake something.

This is not a collection of greatest hits, nor a sampling of major recordings from his Masekela’s storied career. No, this is just a batch of exuberant, toe-tapping music where the emphasis is on having a good time. Enjoy.

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Masekela Soul Covers Mixtape Playlist

I Am Not Afraid

01 “Night In Tunisia”

Is Alive And Well At The Whiskey A Go-Go

02 “Up-Up And Away”

03 “Little Miss Sweetness”

Lasting Impressions Of Ooga Booga

04 “Cantelope Island”

05 “Masquenada”

Reconstruction

06 “Keep Me Hangin’ On”

The Promise Of Future

07 “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”

Revival

08 “For The Love Of You”

Still Grazing

09 “Felicidade”

Uptownship

10 “Ooo, Baby, Baby”

11 “No Woman, No Cry”

Hugh Masekela & The Union of South Africa

12 “Hush (Somebody’s Calling My Name)”

Main Event Live

13 “People Make The World Go Round”

Almost Like Being In Jazz

14 “Betcha By Golly Wow”

Based on what I know about myself right now, what I really want to do is reach people. I want to make great music, but I also want of hope where there might not be any in their lives. My name to use that talent to lift people up, and maybe show them some degree means ‘hope’ in Spanish, and it’s a name I want to live up to.

—Esperanza Spalding

I remember when I first delved into the music of Esperanza Spalding (go here to view my lengthy profile of Esperanza Spalding). I was both impressed and curious. Of course I liked how she handled up on the bass however my curiosity was flavored with a bit of skeptical anxiety. I liked what she was doing butcould not discern what she was ultimately striving to achieve.

Her third album, Chamber Music Society, is not a music box I open on a regular. I have never liked classical music as a genre even though I appreciated some classical compositions and am very impressed with the artistry of a handful of classical musicians. When I heard that Esperanza’s third album was promoted as having a contemporary music cast, i.e. sounds that could find their home on urban radio, I thought oh no, here we go with another attempt to mix hip hop and jazz, which inevitably ends up diminishing the jazz content.

Another wrinkle in my assessment was created by the fact that Robert Glasper’s new album was Black Radio. Could it be that both Esperanza and Robert were separately attempting to create a jazz-based fusion of contemporary sounds? Now that I have heard both, I realize that these are two very, very different approaches and that I am personally much more comfortable with what Esperanza has achieved.

Part of my attraction/repulsion is that whereas Glasper is heavily hip hop influenced, Esperanza is drawing on other sources to shape her approach. In Glasper’s case I hear more hip hop and less jazz whereas Esperanza definitely draws on a wider range of jazz and popular music styles. Although neither could be categorized as mainstream jazz, and indeed might more accurately be characterized as jazz-based contemporary music, both are obviously aimed at a broad, popular audience.

I think one way to underscore their diverging approaches is that Glasper offers club music whereas Spalding presents concert hall music. Style-wise, Glasper reminds me of Herbie Hancock during his funk/fusion period and Spalding is analogous to Stevie Wonder.

My initial impression as I listened to Spalding’s new album was that she had found a way to utilize all of her musical training and diverse proclivities in the service of producing radio-friendly music that is not dumbed down to a back beat (or boom bap) with cameos by rappers and/or pop vocalists. Indeed, what immediately came to mind was “art” music in the broadest sense of “art.”

You can hear touches of classical chamber music mashed up next to Broadway show tunes, supper club/lounge lyrics followed and/or preceded by conscious protest music, classic R&B co-existing with big band jazz. Spalding’s album is an attractive quilt of musical genres unified by her attempt to use everything that’s part of her musical tastes within the context of creating music that one could possibly hear on the radio in any major metropolitan area worldwide.

Esperanza is on a major label and since winning last year’s Grammy award currently has a major marketing push behind her new album. Undoubtedly there is a tremendous amount of pressure on her to be a commercial success. Fortunately, rather than crumble or stumble and produce trendy pap, Spalding’s response is to shine diamond bright.

For example, at the 58th Academy Awards she was offered two major spots, the first a pre-telecast duo jam with Bobby McFerrin, and second a tribute solo rendition of “What A Wonderful World,” a song indelibly associated with Louis Armstrong.

The “Wonderful World” turn was pure Hollywood, which means nothing of substance, yet she managed to imbue her vocals with a sincere optimism that made the lyrics sound believable. With McFerrin she did saxophonist Eddie Harris’ “Freedom Jazz Dance” featuring McFerrin beat-boxing and singing with Spalding mostly playing acoustic bass and offering backing vocals. Both performances are included on the Mixtape, as is her performance at the Nobel Prize awards program at which she presented “Espera,” an original song advocating peace—and again she is on acoustic bass.

For her new album she has switched primarily to electric bass. I hope that she remains primarily an instrumentalist but I also know there will be more and more pushes from marketing to make her over into an attractive songbird, i.e. ditch the bass, just sing (and smile, and look adorable).

Although her singing voice is attractive, she’s really a middleweight whose artistry is in how well she uses her instrument rather than the pure power of her sound. Like many, many jazz artists before her, she not only makes the best of her particular sound, she turns what might be thought of as a limitation into an idiosyncratic identifying strength. Clearly, rather than rely on schmalzy bombast or extra-musical schtiks, Esperanza relies on professional musicianship as the foundation on which she builds her performances.

Clearly she has made the right choices. She is a strong performer, indeed, her live television presentation on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show of “Black Gold” and “Crowned and Kissed,” two songs from her new album, is even better than the studio recording. While the arrangements of both songs was generally the same as recorded, there was much more freedom and improvisation thusly emphasizing the jazz content.

With her pixie-like statue tiara-ed by a massive afro, Esperanza Spalding is on the verge of making the major transition from primarily a jazz artist to a popular entertainer, a cross-over epitomized by Nat King Cole. Now the question is can she sustain her success, all indications thus far are that she will exceed our expectations.

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Radio Society Mixtape Playlist

Radio Music Society

01 “Radio Song”

02 “Cinnamon Tree”

03 “Crowned & Kissed”

04 “Land Of The Free”

05 “Black Gold” (special guest: Algebra Blessett)

06 “I Can’t Help It”

07 “Vague Suspicions”

Nobel Prize Performance

08 “Espera (Hold On)”

84^th Oscars

09 “Freedom Jazz Dance” w/Bobby McFerrin

10 “Wonderful World”

Jon Stewart Daily Show

11 “Black Gold”

12 “Crowned & Kissed”

The music on the 1959 Mingus Ah Um album, and to a lesser extent on the follow-up 1959 Mingus Dynasty recording, are widely considered major achievements not just as classic work in Mingus’ extensive oeuvre but also, and more importantly, as a perennial selection of critics’ top jazz albums of all time.

Coming on the heels of the forties bebop revolution, jazz bifurcated into a cool style featuring complex harmonies and intricate arrangements. Often known as West Coast jazz, the main voices were white and generally played in soft and subdued tones. An opposite approach came to be known as hard bop. These guys were heavy on the solos and played in a fiery, blues-based style.

Apropos of the commercially dominant cool jazz approach, the leading jazz group of the fifties was undoubtedly the Modern Jazz Quiartet (MJQ), an all-black ensemble who were the coolest of the cool and ended up being the longest lasting quartet in jazz history with the same four members together for over twenty years. Their music was a blend of the technical mastery of bebop with classical music but played in a cool style.

Born in Arizona, and early on associated with the West Coast, Mingus’ music was anything but cool. Even though Charles Mingus was one of the major composers in jazz history, he mostly passed on his music by ear. Although he had major arrangements, he featured long, improvised solos. Mingus’ earlier recordings on Atlantic Records featured quartets and quintets, often with only three or four long, blowing tracks that were heavy on improvisation and light on arrangements.

Ah Um and Dynasty were a major departure from well received albums such as Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956) and The Clown (1957). These 1959 recordings featured Mingus’ compositions adroitly arranged to highlight both the startling originality of the compositions themselves as well as the short but very potent solos.

Throughout the session, Mingus’ audible exhortations to his band members can be heard urging the musicians to higher and higher emotional outpourings. Rarely are we presented with such a sterling and moving recorded achievement. Noteworthy is how often the sidemen deliver some of their best recorded solos while working with Mingus. Mingus had the ability to inspire the musicians to go far beyond where they normally go on other recordings.

Rarely in the history of recorded jazz do we get such an awesome combination of quality compositions, inventive arrangements and impassioned solos. Mingus Ah Um is truly a jazz classic.

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Mingus Small Band Mixtape

Mingus Ah Um
01 “Better Get Hit in Yo’ Soul”
02 “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”
03 “Boogie Stop Shuffle”
04 “Open Letter to Duke”
05 “Fables of Faubus”
06 “Pussy Cat Dues”

Mingus Dynasty
07 “Song With Orange”
08 “Gunslinging Bird”
09 “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be”
10 “Mood Indigo”

New York City-born “Jackie Mac,” as John Lenwood McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was popularly known, was a renowned jazz alto saxophonist, composer and educator. Mr. McLean first recorded on Miles Davis’ Dig album when Jackie was a 19-year-old teenager. This write up is not an overview of Jackie Mac’s career but rather a brief focus on one specific composition, “Appointment In Ghana.”

From the late fifties on into the early seventies, the African independence struggles were a specific source of musical inspiration and cultural stimulation for people of African descent worldwide. Significantly, among blacks born in the United States, jazz musicians were way out front in their interest in and advocacy of African linkages. The late fifties began a major trend in bebop, hard bop and avant garde jazz circles of music dedicated to and often given African-oriented titles. A good overview of this trend is presented in the book A Night in Tunisia: Imaginings of Africa in Jazz written by Norman C. Weinstein.

Jackie McLean – Jackie’s Bag

Recorded September 1, 1960 on a Blue Note recording session for the album Jackie’s Bag featuring the leader/composer Jackie Mac on alto, Tina Brooks on tenor, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, with Kenny Drew on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Art Taylor on drums. “Appointment In Ghana” is one of a major example of hard bop in all its harmonically advanced yet furiously swinging glory.

Jazz Crusaders – At The Lighthouse

The second take ups the stakes with a blistering 1962 reading by The Jazz Crusaders featuring a killer opening trombone solo from Wayne Henderson, which is matched in intensity by both Wilton Felder on tenor saxophone and Joe Sample at the piano when their respective turns arise. As strong as the front line is, it’s the unflagging swing of the bass and drum rhythm section that really makes for an exciting outing. That’s guest Victor Gaskin on bass and the founding Jazz Crusaders percussionist Stix Hooper on drums.

Howard Johnson & Gravity – Gravity!!!

Even though it was originally written and performed by a standard jazz sextet with an alto-tenor-trumpet front line, tuba player Howard Johnson and Gravity, Johnson’s surprisingly agile and melodious tuba ensemble take their turn rendering a beautiful reading of the fast paced, tricky changes on the 1996 recording Gravity!!!

Laika Fatien – Nebula

Up next is an innovative arrangement produced by Meshell Ndegeocello on French jazz vocalist Laika Fastien’s album Nebula. Here the emphasis is on the harmonic changes with suspended chords that float atop percolating rhythms. Laika voices long tones with her original lyrics offering a very fresh take on music that was over 50 years old when Nebula was released in 2011.

One Night With Blue Note, Volume 2

Jackie Mac returns for a stirring update as part of a February 22, 1985 celebration of the re-launching of the fabled Blue Note record label. The band was stellar. In addition to Jackie Mac on alto, there was Woody Shaw on trumpet, McCoy Tyner featured on piano, Cecil McBee on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. This may be a definitive reading.

Marc Carey – Focus

New millennium jazz stylings is ably represented by pianist Marc Carey on his 2006 recording Focus with David Ewell on bass and Sameer Gupta on drums. Carey manages to sound both pop and abstract; pop in the sense of an arrangement that emphasizes melodic hooks and abstract in that the solo is rhythm rich in the way Carey speeds up and slows down the tempo as the song progresses. It’s almost as if he is playing a teasing game of tag as we try to keep up with his twists and turns.

I won’t trot out the old saw that there’s something here for everyone. That’s not true. But if you are a jazz fan, I guarantee you will enjoy these fresh takes on “Appointment In Ghana,” an old and classic jazz standard.

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Nevertheless when I hear likable music like this I recognize I am responding to sounds that for the most part I would normally totally ignore. Heston is from the small Caribbean nation of Dominica where as a youngster he heard a mélange of American pop on the limited radio available there.

Heston recalls, “My musical influences are a wide range simply because as a child growing up in Dominica, I was exposed to so many different styles. We had one, maybe two radio stations and they would play all kinds of music from Lionel Richie to Paul McCartney, so there is a little of everything in me. Sunday night’s concert will be a sum of all that’s made my sound what it is today, which is eclectic with a heavy influence from the best of ’70s soul music with a singer/songwriter approach.”

A first listen evokes vintage Maxwell, a closer listen reveals deep Marvin Gaye influences in the way he sings, Smokey Robinson in the way the lyrics are written, and pre-Talking Book Stevie in how the music is put together, plus of course all the Caribbean-rhythm influences and subtle harmonic touches, all riding on an acoustic sound of live music.

My man is a self-taught musician, who writes his music on guitar and singing along with himself. Heston is really a soul artist who was born out of place and out of time, or as he notes: “Musically I just wanted to get back to what the Marvin’s and the Smokey’s and the Stevie’s did. Which was to bring musicians into a room and capture the essence of a song, instead of finding contrived, producer-driven tracks to write to – which is something I’m not a fan of at all. You know, I do need the live instrumentation. Because to me sometimes the errors in live music make it what it SHOULD be! The timing mistakes you can make, or being able to intro or outro a song… That’s all stuff that you can’t really capture as much when you’re programming music. And, in order for me to breathe lyrically and musically, I just couldn’t do it any other way!”

His songwriting approach is to focus mainly on the pop focus on the ups, downs, ins and outs of romantic love but one of his major influences being Marvin Gaye on “Good Morning America,” my man also directly addresses the affects of war on young men.

Heston has a big problem in that he is out of step with the prevailing trends in popular music. Although is music seems like it would be an easy sell in the industry, the reality is exactly the opposite. Where is the sexy image, the banging boom-bap, the slightly twisted lyrics? How in the world can this thirty-something working class looking singer/songwriter compete with pierced and tatted youngsters with weird hairdos and video game references? So what’s a man to do?

What has always advanced the music is musicians doing whatever they had to do in order to do whatever they wanted to do. In Heston’s case, it meant he had to literally produce his own music on his own record label.

On this point, my man is articulate when he opines: “Well, one thing I’ve always said is that I always want to be proud of the music I’m putting out. Making timeless music is the most important thing to me, and I’m not gonna sell myself out to some major-label A&R guy to end up making music that I’m ashamed of! And so I ended up HAVING to put my music out on my own! I didn’t have a choice, because – except for maybe my mom and a close friend who thought I could sing and write well – no-one else believed in me enough to finance it! But, though no-one else at the time thought it was worth the investment, after putting it out myself I did end up getting a surprising amount of attention. And, while so far the Worldsoul label has just been an outlet for own music, eventually I do wanna write more for other artists and produce other people’s records. So, if I do find something I feel is worth investing in, I’d love to eventually expand the label so I can release other artists’ material through it too,”

Maybe Heston will make it, maybe he won’t. Regardless he has produced real music, honest music from his heart, and that’s what lifts him past the majority of pop music. He has talent, he has vision, and he has worked hard at developing both an approach and a sound. You might call it pop music for mature adults.

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Heston Mixtape Playlist

Special Edition

01 “If”

Storyteller

02 “Distant Lover”

03 “Your Perfume”

04 “Radio”

05 “Feel Like Dancing (feat. Yahzarah)”

06 “Good Morning America”

 07 “Like Sunshine”

08 “Songbirds”

Warm Human Cold World

09 “Greatest Lover”

10 “You”

11 “Crazy”

12 “Right Here”

13 “Lonely In My Room”

14 “Oh La La”

Because I was smitten early on by the piano work of Abdullah Ibrahim, I found myself deeply in love with the bass sound of Johnny Dyani (30 November 1945 – 24 October 1986). He played with a solid authority and expert timing, reminded me of a modern combination of Charles Mingus and Paul Chambers. This was over twenty years ago. At the time I did not know anything about Mr. Dyani’s background other than that he was probably South African.

Turns out he was not only South African he was an original member of the Blue Notes, the most important jazz ensemble to emanate from South Africa. During the apartheid era The Blue Notes were an integrated band with non-black member Chris McGregor (piano), joining Mongezi Feza (trumpet), Dudu Pukwana (alto), Nick Moyake (tenor), Louis Moholo (drums) and Johnny Dyani (bass). Needless to say, they could not survive as a unit under apartheid.

In 1964 they went into exile, as did a number of other South African musicians. But it was hard to live in Europe and maintain South African sanity and sensibility. Moyake returned to South Africa shortly after leaving. Except for Moholo, who is alive and recording in the new millennium, all the other original Blue Note members died in exile. At a later date I will feature the music of The Blue Notes.I had the opportunity to hang out for a minute with Dudu Pukwana in London. The scene was one of the most trying mixes of joy and pain this side of Mississippi. How these musicians missed their homeland was as palpable as a scar or the tender stump of an amputated limb. Their music made you want to dance and simultaneously made you want to cry.

These musicians played as though jazz was in their blood, as though jazz was their musical mother tongue. South African musicians are the international separated-at-birth twins of Black jazz musicians from the United States. And yet, at the same time, they have their own distinctive heritage that manifests itself in a distinctive sound and distinctive approaches to the universal music known as jazz.

Whereas you can find individuals worldwide who are extremely proficient jazz musicians, only in South Africa do we get communities of significant jazz players who easily match their overseas kin. Moreover, even in this regard, Johnny Dyani is extraordinary. In the history of jazz there have been very few bass players who lead the way as innovators, composers, band leaders and/or performers.

Of course Charles Mingus comes immediately to mind, and some might point to Ray Brown but after that, acoustic bass players as leading lights become a dim picture. Although I wish he had recorded more music, I am extremely grateful for the double handful of recordings featuring Johnny Dyani’s beautiful music.

I have always marveled at how well Dyani could excel in a wide variety of musical styles: from straight ahead swing to free jazz, from classics to traditional South African melodies, no one else had such command and breadth of music. Whether in duet or larger ensemble, playing originals or traditional music, Johnny Dyani was a major musical force.

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Johnny Dyani Mixtape Playlist

Suburban Fantasies

01 “Suburban Fantasies”

02 “The Walk Street”

Straight ahead duet with pianist Joe Bonner, who was an alumnus of Pharoah Sanders and spent many years living and working in Europe.

Afrika

03 “Grandmother’s Teaching”

Song For Biko

04 “Jo’Burg – New York”

 Witchdoctor’s Son

05 “Heart With Minor’s Face”

06 “Ntyilo Ntyilo”

07 “Mbizo”

Black Paladins

08 “Black Paladins”

This album featured legendary Black Arts Movement poet Henry Dumas working with the trio, which itself featured two members (Joseph Jarman and Don Moye) of the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Echoes From Africa

09 “Lakutshonilanga (When The Sun Sets)”

10 “Zikr (Remembrance Of Allah)”

 This duo with Abdullah Ibrahim features a mix of traditional South African folk music and jazz.

Good News From Africa

11 “Ntsikana’s Bell”

12 “The Pilgrim”

Technically listed as an early album under the name Dollar Brand, which was how Abdullah Ibrahim was initially known internationally. Maybe because this is where I was first introduced to Johnny Dyani, or maybe because I have always loved Abdullah’s deeply spiritual music (preferably solo), or maybe it’s because this is music of the highest order at an emotionally meditative pitch, or whatever… who knows, who cares, this is my favorite recording featuring bra Dyani with one of my two favorite pianist (Abdullah Ibrahim is the other).

The difference is music is now composed, or assembled, using computers and electronic equipment. This recording is a prime example of how major the shift from the way music used to be assembled with musicians playing live to the what it is often done now with samples and tracks laid down at different times and/or places. The three major voices, i.e. Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), Common, and Black Thought did not get together in a studio to record their contributions to the album. Indeed their voices were initially recorded for other projects. Producer Ayentee lifted the a capella tracks, cut and paste on a computer, add some original beats and voila—Frankensteined Vol. 1.

Some might think this process is sacrilegious but love it or loath it, black youth, the caretakers of our future, have embraced this process and so have music lovers worldwide of diverse ethnicities and origins. Electronically manufacturing music is not the only way to go, but it is now a major path trod by emcees, djs, producers, vocalists and instrumentalists. This approach does not replace what existed back in the day, nor does it negate old ways of making music but this approach does offer a major new musical path that many people are enthusiastically embracing.

Check out Ayentee’s statement of intent and bio.

Here is the first installment in a series of albums I’m calling Frankensteined. The goal of this project is to take a bunch of verses from different artists and try to craft an album as if they were all in the studio working together. I really wanted to create a brand new listening experience and try to redefine the potential of the remix. Volume one focuses in on Mos Def, Common and Black Thought, 3 legendary emcees from Brooklyn, Chicago, and Philadelphia respectively.

Ayentee is a San Francisco Bay Area emcee/producer of 12 years. As an artist that has always tried to think outside of the box, Ayentee has trailblazed the free music movement by making all of his past and future releases free to download starting in 2004. He also spent 11 weeks crafting Curiosity Saved The Mouse, an online evolving album that grew by 1 track each tuesday until its completion in late 2009. His 4 solo albums and 1 group collaboration with Secluded Journalists can be found online at www.ayentee.com free to download.

released 07 March 2012

You can get a free download by going to Ayentee’s bandcamp website.

Of course, the proof is always in the pudding, i.e. the product—how does it sound. I like it this. What do you think?

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Mos Common Thought Mixtape Playlist

Mos Common Thought

01 “Summer All Stars”

02 “Nothin Like Me”

03 “Black Out
”

04 “Beef”

05 “I Am The City”

06 “Adrenaline”

07 “Survival”

08 “
Girls x3”

09 “Act 1”

10 “Hurricane”