About

As originally recorded, with all 12 tracks included!
Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analog tape
45 RPM mastering enables full dynamics present on the tape

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What more can be captured from the masterpiece that the late trumpet great Hugh Masekela left devoted fans, the effervescent Hope. Now cut at 45 RPM and spread over four 180-gram premium LPs, you're about to discover the answer to that question. The eight sides of vinyl reduce distortion and high frequency loss as the wider-spaced grooves let your stereo cartridge track more accurately. 

A longtime audiophile demonstration disc. Hope will show off your system's dynamic range as well as any record ever released. Hugh Masekela, the outstanding South African trumpeter, assembled a seven-piece group and recorded this great set live at Washington, D.C.'s Blues Alley. The songs stretch over a period of nearly five decades and serve as an informal guided tour of Masekela's life. The songs are honest and bare, and as for the sound — WOW!

Unlike a prior 45 RPM version that included seven songs, this 45 RPM reissue contains the full program as originally recorded with all 12 tracks included! Plus, as an added bonus, we've included a special insert — featuring an exclusive interview with Grammy/Emmy Award-winning engineer David Hewitt, who recorded Hope originally.

"Hugh's record is right up near the top for a lot of reasons," Hewitt says.

Hewitt and his team were afforded the time they needed, and they pulled out all the stops to pull off what's now recognized as an all-time great recording. They used better-quality microphones, they were micing the room for ambient sound, and Masekela was performing for a sophisticated and appreciative audience.

"We used stuff from our stash of mics as opposed to what you'd find typically at a jazz club. We actually had control via the record label and producers, so we could take our time. We had the ability to mic the room for abient sound. ... you've got people that actually know and appreciate the music and respond accordingly. What you've got there is all the right stuff at the right time and the right people, and then something magical happens."

Listen to that magic unfold — put on this Analogue Productions 45 RPM 4LP reissue of Hope, and be transported. — (via Label)

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Now happily resettled in South Africa, Masekela assembled a seven-piece group there and recorded an informal guided tour of his life and repertoire live in Washington D.C.'s Blues Alley. The songs stretch over a period of nearly five decades and several countries and composers — from an incantatory Alexandria township tune, "Languta," which he learned in 1947, to a fairly ordinary piece written by keyboardist Themba Mkhize in 1993, "Until When." "Abangoma" starts the album out on the right track, hearkening back to the early fusion of African music and jazz that Masekela was playing back in 1966. "Mandela (Bring Him Back Home)" may have lost some of its political raison d'etre by 1993, but it remains a good tune, and the band plays it with enthusiasm. Yet Masekela's biggest hit, "Grazing in the Grass," sounds a bit tired in this live rendition. There are two songs by the prolific South African composer Caiphus Semenya, "Nomali" and the driving "Ha Le Se," and the late Nigerian idol Fela Anikulapo-Kuti is represented by "Lady." Clearly the resolution of the political struggle in South Africa had mellowed Masekela; he sounds happier, perhaps less fiery, certainly more polished and refined on the trumpet and flugelhorn than when he started out. But when you hear his bitter narration on "Stimela," describing the life of formerly conscripted coal miners, you suspect that not all of the old wounds have healed. — (via AllMusic)

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— 4LP, Pressed on 180g black vinyl
— Housed in gatefold tip-on jacket by Stoughton Printing
— Packaged in a custom-designed slipcase
— Includes insert containing interview with David Hewitt, original recording engineer for Hope

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Label: Analogue Productions
Format: 4 x Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Limited Edition, Remastered, Stereo, 180g
Reissued: 2019 / Originally Released: 1994
Genre: Jazz, Folk, World, & Country
Style: African

File under: Audiophile Jazz
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