His exposure to music when he was young helped mold his style. Influenced by the 78 RPM gramophone records that he listened to as a kid, starting with American jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong (who donated a trumpet to the church in South Africa where he learned to first play trumpet), Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Count Basie, led him on a road to intertwine local African rhythms into his personal jazz style. 

Escaping apartheid, he moved to the U.S. in 1971, where he attended the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.  He studied with a virtual who’s-who of jazz – Dave Grusin, Herbie Hancock, Chick Correa and Les McCann to name a just a few. He even played on some of Bob Marley’s first recordings.

Masekela’s music blended jazz with Mbaqanga, a Zulu rooted African jazz/funk style, which was a popular sound in the urban areas of South Africa during the 1970s. It faded until the mid-1980s when, helped by Paul Simon’s Graceleand recording, which used the South African music style extensively, it made a come back.

In 1987 Hugh had a hit with the single “Bring Him Back Home” which became an anthem for the movement to free Nelson Mondella. He also recorded the famous jazz anthum “Grazin’ in the Grass”.

Hugh Masekela
Zanzibar on the Waterfront 
700 Water Street SW, at Maine Avenue
Washington, DC 20024

Date – Saturday, January 20th, 8:30 and 11:00 p.m
 
Tickets – $25.00 in advance, $30.00 at the door – 21 and over only

Parking – Street parking is available or in area garages.

Nearest Metro subway station – The Waterfront-SEU station – Green line, then a one-block walk.

      
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Post from: The DC Traveler