Home Is Where the Music Is / The African Connection

This one flew by. Really nice album and a genre of jazz I’d like to discover more.

So far this week I've had a triple album (\"All Things Must Pass\" by George Harrison - 104:12), a double CD album (\"New Forms\" by Roni Size/Reprazent - 139:54) the very challenging 47:20 atonal slab of \"Junkyard\" by The Birthday Party, and now this Jazz double LP weighing in at a hefty 76:33. What next, possibly \"simulated_worlds\" by NǽnøĉÿbbŒrğ VbëřřĦōlökäävsŦ (80:49:58) or perhaps Bull of Heaven's
\"210: Like a Wall in Which an Insect Lives and Gnaws\", a piece lasting exactly fifty thousand hours? All told I have to put in 6 hours and 7 minutes, and it's only Thursday! Good thing I like Jazz!

This is a good album but not an exceptional album excepting the fact that it's Hugh Masekela from South Africa, not exactly a Jazz hotbed before this (so very groundbreaking in that respect), and the high quality of the music across the length of it. Subjectively speaking of course. I do like Masekela's spare style and bright, melodic approach to the horn. At times blasting out hard bop like Dizzy Gillespie or gliding into the long breathy single notes like Miles, where he tries to coax every last drop of life out of that one sound. All without being overly cerebral or challenging, making this a fairly accessible work for Jazz fusion (which is definitely what this is).

The best tunes on here are the more funk-driven ones where the band is not meandering as much, like on "Inner Crisis." Bringing in some textures that haven't been played to death for the 25 years prior. The drumming was a little heavy-handed I thought, great nonetheless. There are probably some number of Jazz albums that could be on this list instead of this one, but it's an enjoyable, uplifting entry.

I was obviously well aware, when I decided to start my 1001 Album journey that I would get exposed to music(ians) I had never listened to before...

Hugh, for my untrained ears, is another jazz musician. I would not be able to do what he was able to do, however, upon reading a little about him, I have to scratch my head on why this album was placed on the list?

Favorite tune is almost a straight-forward blues tune, where the piano has center-stage, which means it hardly has anything to do with Hugh...

I can see this being good music during some off-time when you are preparing a meal and need some background music...

Some decent background jazz. Nothing really drew me in.

This is great music. Hugh Masekela was unknown to me until now. I liked the album very much. I will certainly be listening to more from Masekela.
5/5

First saw High Masekela at Artists Against Apartheid, Clapham Common, a great day, generally, and Coal Train (not on this album) still sends shivers down my spine. Great man, great album.

Jazz/jazz-fusion with an ebb and flow to the compositions that I really liked.

4.5/5.0: Excellent

Great jazz album, added to my collection, just a little long for me to put up there with my favourite Jazz albums, got a bit bored by the end of the album.

Dangerously close to 4.5 stars. Perhaps could get there one day. The length did wear on me a bit, but I liked everything and loved most everything. Very cool find.

4/5

I heard this during my lunch break... and it turned out to be the best time to listen to it; it was also the perfect album for that moment!

Either way, it was really good - and keep in mind that jazz isn't really my thing :-(

Who the fuck is Hugh Masekela?! Holy shit. I honestly didn't expect that there would be artists on here I didn't know but here we are! This is so obscure the wiki page mentions it's inclusion in 1001 Albums in the first paragraph! Soul jazz is not a genre I can say I'm familiar with. Oh shit... This shit is smoooothe. I immediately like "Part of a Whole." I love trying to contemplate how the music itself relates to the titles in jazz. I have no idea how this music equals "Part of A Whole" and maybe song titles in jazz don't always have to sound out their titles in the music. Can you imagine if this music backed Ella Fitzgerald or Amy Winehouse or the Talking Heads? Holy shit. That would be something. But I'm glad it doesn't. I'm glad it stands alone and I love that 1001 has introduced me to it. Wait what the fuck was there a duck whistle around 8:15 in "Part of a Whole?" Gettin loose at the end there. I like it. Oo Minawa is taking it down a notch. What does Minawa mean? Minawa is a beach in Wisconsin. 1 family in the US is named Minawa. It's a rail station in Japan. I'm gonna guess the rail station in Japan fits this mood. Not a bustling city station but a barely populated countryside station that picks up 5 people at 5 am to take them into the city. Minawahhhhh. The Big Apple is obviously about a large piece of fruit or New York. Probably the fruit. But really does exude a city full of life and assholes. Unhome is sad just by the title. I finished the album and loved the entire thing. I also really appreciated the production quality. Even listening in Spotify, this sounds very clean and almost like I'm in the studio. I have to check out more Hugh Masekela!

My apologies to all you jazz fans that I keep giving these albums two stars. There were two songs on this album, Nomali and Maseru, that I enjoyed a bit. But I can’t imagine re-listening to this album. I knew the name Hugh Masekela through a musician named Johnny Clegg, whose music I enjoy, who named him as a major influence. So I went to check out more music by Mr. Masekela, and in fact I enjoy much of it. But the music he was making at the time of this album is not for me. I’m grateful that it made me research him more deeply to find a plenty of music that he made that I enjoy very much!

Boring. He kind of threw in some Afrobeat stuff to make it less straight jazz, but...yeah. Jazz.

Very easy to listen to, good background music in a wine bar style vibe. Nothing really stood out but the whole package was a good feeling overall.

Jazz sudafricano!!! Esta lista sigue siendo capaz de sorprender después de más de 500 discos. Me ha gustado Minawa pero se me ha hecho pesado y plano. Más o menos me gusta este tipo de jazz pero este disco no es imprescindible.

Some songs were very long. I’m not usually a jazz fan but really enjoyed this one. Favorite song was Maseru

1- great, energetic start to the record
2- purty
3- chiller, best solos yet
4- in one ear, out the other
5- maybe best track yet
6- piano intro & main tune are great in their own ways
7- basically the drummer’s show off piece
8- more bluesy than track 7 (Blues for Huey), cool, nighttime city vibes
9- groovy, at this part starting to feel the album’s length
10- a party (only vocals in the album I think?), but isn’t so much of a crazy grand finale as what sounds like the bandmates letting loose after a hard day at work

HL: “Maseru” (5), “Minawa” (2) “Part of a Whole” (1), “Inner Crisis” (6)

July 29, 2023

Een rustig jazzplaatje volgens het boekje. Prima op de achtergrond.

I wasn't familiar with Masekela. He fits right in with Fela Kuti. Sweet, sweet groves.

I liked more of the backing music than the main trumpet parts; those were kind of annoying at times. Probably why I don't care for jazz that much. Not bad, just not really my thing I guess.