Hugh Nini

Rejoice is a very special collaboration between Tony Allen, the legendary drummer and co-founder of Afrobeat, and Hugh Masekela, the master trumpet player of South African jazz. Having first met in the 70s thanks to their respective close associations with Fela Kuti, the two world-renowned musicians talked for decades about making an album together. When, in 2010, their touring schedules coincided in the UK, the moment presented itself and producer Nick Gold took the opportunity to record their encounter. The unfinished sessions, consisting of all original compositions by the pair, lay in archive until after Masekela passed away in 2018. With renewed resolution, Tony Allen and Nick Gold, with the blessing and participation of Hugh Masekela’s estate, unearthed the original tapes and finished recording the album in summer 2019 at the same London studio where the original sessions had taken place.

This classic recording has a beautiful balance of African aesthetics meet American soul, jazz, funk, rock and pop. The songs have a vintage sound that could only have been made by a South African playing American music in 1971. Along these lines, the album cover is the perfect visual representation of the music. While having a 1970's sound, "Hugh Masekela & the Union of South Africa" is by no means outdated, nor will it ever. The disc has an enjoyable mix of slow ballads, township infused instrumentals and fast funk. The song writing is superb, the musical improvisation is good and the voices soar.

This was Hugh Hopper's second solo album but the first he released after leaving SOFT MACHINE. Hugh hooked up with recording engineer Mike Dunne who had been the assistant engineer on his first record ("1984"). Mike was now in charge of the mobile studio of Jon Anderson of YES. Mike suggested that he could provide the studio while Hugh would provide the music and musicians. Hugh notes: "By the time I had arranged the music into some sort of coherent order and invited the various guest musicians, Mike's studio was set up in one of London's big film sound studios, where YES rehearsed for tours. Jon Anderson occasionally popped his head around the door when we were beavering away at some tricky tape-looping or double-speeded bass, and Steve Howe looked in once, I seem to remember. I knew them slightly anyway, from SOFT MACHINE tours when the two bands came together at festivals".

Just pure, sweet, beautiful music from start to finish on this album. My favourite song is Moonza, full of soul and funk, jazzy and brilliant. In truth, all of the songs on this album are beautifully crafted and utterly joyful. That these two superb musicians only made one album together is a shame but what they did make will forever stand the test of time… they really do not make music like this anymore.

In patching together a program of Hugh Masekela's MGM recordings onto a single overstuffed CD, Verve took the original The Americanization of Ooga Booga album, leapfrogged over its successor, Next Album, and coupled it with the third MGM LP, The Lasting Impressions of Hugh Masekela. That made good sense since the two albums originate from the same live date at the Village Gate, recorded when the trumpeter was still in the process of making an impression in the U.S. Masekela is full of wild, sputtering, high-rolling exuberance, developing some of his familiar signature trumpet riffs, freely exploring South African rhythms, harmonic sequences, and chants, and mixing them with soul-jazz at a time when hardly anyone else would bother (the mixture of township jive and jazz works especially well on "U-Dwi").

Herb Alpert / Hugh Masekela is collaborative studio album by Herb Alpert and Hugh Masekela. It was recorded in Hollywood, California, and released in 1978 via A&M Records and Horizon Records labels.