Skokiaan, Shebeen and Besame Mucho

[David S]

Well, I'm in a serious South African horn mood today - have been listening to Hugh Masekela and also to Jonas Gwangwa all day today. I love those two Herb Alpert and Hugh Masekela records (the live one, of course, Gwangwa also played on) and I sure hope Mr Alpert remasters them and releases them because I would love remasters of them both. It is because I was a fan of Herb Alpert and the TJB that I got introduced to South African music from those two albums, oddly enough (and a lot sooner than Paul Simon's excellent Graceland), for when I saw Herb Alpert I just picked them up. That introduced me to Masekela and from 1977 on I've been searching high and dry for his stuff...you could say the rest is history...

Listening to Gwangwa's "Shebeen" (on Flowers of the Nation - it's an excellent record - gloriously uplifting), it got me thinking about what versions of that tune, Skokiaan, and Besame Mucho y'all have heard and like and why. I prefer instrumentals, in part because of a hearing loss, though I know that each of these songs have lyrics and have been done vocally.

Regards from sunny and warm Fort Worth, Texas (next month Masekela is in TX for two dates - doing a live jazz program with pianist Larry Willis, whom I believe was also on The Main Event).

drs

 

[Harry]

Y'know, the MAIN EVENT LIVE album is one that I've just not listened to enough. And yet every time I do, I'm amazed at how good it is.

I have a nice vinyl copy of it that made an excellent CD-R, yet I seldom grab it to listen to. Just now I'm listening to "She-been" and it really grooves. Thanks SmedMan for starting the thread.

Regards from a sunny and refreshingly cool central Florida, with a warming trend over the next few days.

Harry

 

[martin]

Hello Smedman,
I share your love for South African music. Both of the Alpert/Masekela albums had deserved a much wider recognition. Have you read Hugh Masekela's autobiography; "Still grazing"? It's amazing. It appears that I will have an opportunity to work with Masekela himself on a big choral tribute to Nelson Mandela on the Cape Town International Jazz Festival next year.

- greetings from the warm and sunny north -
Martin

 

[David S]

Yes, I own Masekela's autobiography and I did read it. He infers that feels that he did Mr Alpert a bit of injustice during the making of those records (which I agree deserve a wider recognition - I am hopeing Mr Alpert does release them on his new digital music platform, if now, perhaps, two albums on a single cd) because of personal issues.

I've been playing the stuffing out of Masekela's Live at the Market Theatre cd as I can't obtain his Friends multi-disc set and his Playing @ Work new cd as they are notg in the States, unfortunately. Have also been playing the stuffing out of Jonas Gwangwa's Flowers of the Nation... And the live Alpert/Masekela record...all great stuff.

David

 

[happycamper]

Now that two years have passed, I wonder if Randy Badazz might have any comment on plans to remaster the two Herb Alpert/Hugh Masekela albums? I am blown away every time I hear She-been, African Summer, Kalahari Nights, Skokiaan, and many others.

 

[Rudy]

If the masters from the gigs that made up Main Event still survive, those would be ideal for an expanded set (and a great selling point, too).

 

[David S]

Well, these remain my favourites. Would love to get them on a reissue of some sort. They are just great, great stuff. The version of Besame Mucho on The Main Event- Live remains my personal favourite of those Mr. Alpert has done.

Wonder if the live perf was filmed? Wouldn't that be cool to see?

That said, I strongly recommend Jonas Gwangwa's recordings. See Shebeen on Flowers of the Nation, and Foreign Native on Songs from Exile. Really, really good stuff. I wrote Mr Gwangwa a correspondence over a year ago - was looking for the lyrics to some of his non-English songs to try and learn how to pronounce to sing along (a process I started with Hugh Masekela's album, Tomorrow - and specifically, the tune Ke Bale) . It took about a year but imagine my stunned surprise when I received a personal reply.

drs

(ps - re: my note from back in 2013: The Masekela albums Friends (w/ Larry Willis) and Playing@Work can be obtained in the States now. The latter has been issued in a "reworked" edition - not sure what that means. They're both fine recordings. I saw Masekela and Willis in Austin at OneWorld perform tracks from the Friends recording. Playing@Work is a fine recording that I often play...)

 

[Rudy]

Our @Mr Bill was at one of those gigs and I don't recall if he mentioned that there was any filming or videotaping at the time.

I agree it was a very interesting time for Herb's music. To me it was the era in which he really began to stretch out musically, since the two Hugh albums are a huge departure from Just You and Me and anything else he had done to that point. And of course, that led to what would happen with Rise and his subsequent recordings. These two are definitely strong favorites of mine.

 

[martin]

I still think that there is a huge difference in quality between the Herb Alpert/Hugh Masekela album and the Main Event album. While the first appears to be well produced and inspired, "Main Event" seems much more like a coincidental live recording, where at times neither the solos nor the accompaniments do really "swing".

- greetings from the north -
Martin

 

[Mr Bill]

Rudy is correct -- there were no cameras there. I think it was tough enough having The Record Plant mobile recording truck parked out back and microphones practically everywhere (there were microphones hanging over almost every table)

--Mr. Bill

 

[toeknee4bz]

Now that two years have passed, I wonder if Randy Badazz might have any comment on plans to remaster the two Herb Alpert/Hugh Masekela albums? I am blown away every time I hear She-been, African Summer, Kalahari Nights, Skokiaan, and many others.

Agreed. Both of the Alpert/Masekela albums deserve the digital treatment and reissue.

 

[Harry]

Agreed. Both of the Alpert/Masekela albums deserve the digital treatment and reissue.

Of course the studio album WAS released in 1988-89-90 on the A&M Horizon/Jazz label in one of the earliest Digipak® packages. Mastered by Rudy Van Gelder. It's very expensive now that it's out of print. Unless you're loaded with cash, your best bet is to find a clean LP and do-it-yourself.

MAIN EVENT LIVE has never been officially released in digital format, so for now, a clean LP and CD Recorder are your best friend here.

Harry