Home Is Where the Music Is / The African Connection

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4, but I’ll be damned if I don’t want to give this a 5 just to reward its highest highs. Can’t justify it though.

It sure is 73 minutes of afrobeat-influenced jazz, with a little more of a lean towards the “jazz” than the “afrobeat” the longer the album goes along. I think it’s a delightful listen regardless, since it’s usually pretty rich in instrumentation, with melodies galore & some keyboard / percussion work that feels electric. However, there’s so, so many little paper cuts this thing has where I struggled to decide if it was a 4 or a 5.

The length is… yeah, it’s too long. A lot of these tracks do have a good structure to them, and at their best, they can make some of these 10 minute tracks sound more compelling (especially so on “Maesha”, what a track). Whenever these tracks lose their structure, or get far too loose, the album hits a stale point that sounds good, but just sort of blends together in a deeply unsatisfying way. Disappointingly, Miriam Makema’s track “Unhome” is an example of this, as is the closing track, “Ingoo Pow-Pow”. They’re not bad listens at all, but they both go absolutely nowhere the whole time, just feeling like a bit of a slog in the long run of an already long album. For “Ingoo Pow-Pow”, it’s even worse, because it just doesn’t feel like it deserves to close the album out over “Maesha”, at least not to my ears.

I also think this album just consistently misses the mark about when to end tracks; a lot of these build up to a really nice point, progressing in a way that feels like it’s the climax to end on… and then reverts back to the opening minute or so, just going along for another minute or two, like a YouTube video left on loop. It’s frustrating because there ARE tracks here that hit the fun, satisfying big-band finish, and do it spectacularly. That’s part of the “structure” issues I have here, which stops the album from having a more natural flow.

I really do want to give this a 5, but I can’t justify it to myself – the instrumentation feels great in the moment, but the compositions themselves aren’t as disciplined as they could be. Their technical skills are incredible, and when they can hit on an electrifying sort of moment, the album feels like it’s soaring. Whenever it hits a stale point though, it just feels like it’s stuck in a traffic jam, and those moments are too persistent to keep the album’s momentum as fruitful as it could be. It is still a deeply, deeply enjoyable jazz album, but I do wish there were more of the Afrobeat elements of the first few tracks retained throughout the majority of the album, as opposed to small scatterings of it in the back half, when it mostly becomes a straight jazz / blues album. It’s a bunch of smaller paper cuts, but it’s enough where I think I have to give this a 4; granted, a 4.5 bumped down to a 4 that I still really recommend as an album, but one that just doesn’t feel as complete as some of the other jazz albums we’ve gotten. Still though, pretty good stuff.

‘One thing I’ve learnt from 1001 is that I can’t really handle Jazz in most forms.’

This is the most liked review for this and I think it reflects my opinions exactly.

Good album. Competant jazz with African flourishes. The African bits are the most impassioned and interesting. The jazz is pretty ordinary though.

Last track the best.

Probably was groundbreaking for jazz listeners at the time but so kuedos for that but modern jazz listeners will have heard this territory explored more adventurously with better results

Easy listening jazz

Good jazz album

This grooves hard as hell! And it’s anti-apartheid?! I’m here for it! Some of the melodies/chord progressions actually remind me a little of Steely Dan, be less white and cheesy. The traditional African stuff mixed with the jazz piano at the end is super cool too.

Дуже гарний альбом, прямо відкриття з цього списку. Такий джаз я люблю, вплив африканської тут відчутний звісно, але без надмірності (особливо якщо не брати до уваги останню композицію). Також сподобалась робота піаніста тут.

Not unpleasant. Very long. Not particularly engaging.

I enjoy listening to jazz from time to time, but I find it most exciting when it is combined with funk grooves or world music elements. On “Home is Where the Music is,” Hugh Masekela integrates both in a wonderful way. This album is great to listen to in the background, but you can also listen more closely at any time and discover interesting details. Easy listening but never boring—that's how jazz should sound!

I’m 223 albums in, and the biggest revelation so far is how much I’ve enjoyed the jazz albums. This was no exception - I especially loved the funkier tracks like Inner Crisis.

I always enjoy some good jazz. This is pretty good.

Bluesy, funky, silksy smooth, warmly easy going jazz that brings together fusion sounds, cuban rhythms, big band song structures and brass harmonies in the heads, and soulful playing in the solos. The electric piano and rhodes tones and playing is especially great both in the lead or comping under the sax/horn parts. They settle into some great deep grooves on several tracks with spacious bass parts that leave tons of room for the soloists to go off. It's a fairly accessible jazz record that easily fades to background, but is worth paying close attention to for all the interplay and improvisational expressivity.

Favorites: Maesha, Maseru, Inner Crisis

My first jazz album on the list and it’s one I haven’t listened to before. I tend to like more experimental and avant garde jazz, but this was still very solid and enjoyable

This album is suuuper 70s. I liked it but I feel like it’s so dated it would be a tough sell for anyone these days. It’s jazzy, sure, but in such a specific 70s way. And I’m not sure I could even say why it’s that way. Regardless, I enjoyed listening. Probably wouldn’t listen again. 3/5

This is a serene, soulful jazz-fusion album, easy on the ears however lacking in the crazy, off-beat twists and turns which define my favourite albums and artists of the genre. It's also pretty damn long at 76 minutes in length, which I'm not entirely sure is fully warranted given what is explored (or not) across its running time.

I can sometimes vibe with this sort of stuff, but I wasn't particularly in the mood for over an hour of it today, and I didn't last the course.

Quite pleasant..

From what (admittedly little) research I did, Hugh Masekela seems deeply important to the landscape of jazz, and this is seemingly regarded to be among his best. While I can tell this is a detailed, sophisticated piece of jazz, I'm not sure I can entirely speak this music's language. I enjoy jazz quite a bit, but my comfort zone usually hovers around the hard-bop, swing and (to an extent) free jazz world. Home Is Where The Music Is has some distance from these touchstones, and while I enjoy this while it's on, I often just don't have the ear to tell you exactly what is spectacular about it. Although, this is still a pretty great album to just sort of drift through, even if I can't take it all in. Although there are some moments here that I feel I can fully appreciate. The Drumwork in the second half of Blues For Huey is really incredible. I also love the second half of Minawa. And Ingoo Pow-Pow brings in some really interesting percussive and vocal components that really set it apart. Also, I would like to note that while Hugh Masekela's name is specifically on this, it feels more like an ensemble piece than a solo exhibition at many times (although he certainly has some fantastic flugelhorn solos on here). Overall, this is pretty great and I enjoyed it quite a bit, I don't know if I see myself coming back to it anytime soon though: maybe someday.

My last couple of Jazz albums have ranged from middling to boring so I’m glad to get a really enjoyable one here. Only negative is that I didn’t really like the final track Ingoo Pow Pow and that’s all that’s stopping me giving this full marks.

Top Track - The Big Apple

When the electric piano kicked in on Inner Crisis, I found myself involuntarily exclaiming "oh yeah!". I also love the little bends the bass is doing in Maesha. I kind of wish more of the tracks had a South African feel like the last track does. A strong four.

A strong and thoughtful jazz record that might feel more at home in 𝟣𝟢𝟢𝟣 𝘑𝘢𝘻𝘻 𝘈𝘭𝘣𝘶𝘮𝘴 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘉𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘋𝘪𝘦. While it’s beautifully performed and rich in mood, it doesn’t quite carry the historical weight or influence of other entries on the main list. The 76-minute runtime makes it a slow burn, but there’s real beauty in its patience. 𝘐𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘰 𝘗𝘰𝘸-𝘗𝘰𝘸 (𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘨) stands out as a charming, unexpected highlight.