''The Chisa Years: 1965–1975 (Rare and Unreleased)'' is a compilation album by South African jazz trumpeter

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for ...

. The album consists of 14 rare or forgotten tracks recorded by

Stewart Levine Stewart Levine (born 1946) is an American record producer. He has worked with such artists as The Crusaders, Minnie Riperton, Lionel Richie, Simply Red, Hugh Masekela, Dr. John, Randy Crawford, B.B. King, Huey Lewis and the News, Patti LaBelle, ...

and

from 1965 to 1975 when they ran their own Chisa Records label.

Critical reception

Thom Jurek of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote: "In sum, there isn't a weak moment on this entire collection. Its appeal is wide and deep and one can only hope this is the first of many volumes of this material to appear. BBE Records has done a stellar job in making this slab available." A reviewer of

Dusty Groove Dusty Groove is a Chicago-based online record store specializing in new and vintage jazz, funk, soul, hip-hop, world, rare, collectible, and vinyl records and CDs. History Online record store Founded in 1996 by University of Chicago alumn ...

added, "The Chisa sound was one of the first true forays into pan-global grooving – and it brought the sounds of Africa to the American mainstream at a level that few had managed before. Some groups were unique projects done for record – like the Johannesburg Street Band, which featured members of The Crusaders alongside Masekela – but others featured a variety of ex-patriots living in the US, with key singers and players who shine brightly under Hugh's guidance. This set really digs deep, and offers up some of the most heavily African-tuned tracks from Chisa's catalog." Dan Nishimoto of the ''Prefix Magazine'' stated: "The compilation focuses on Masekela’s original idea of “African American Music.” From the early experiments of the Zulus (a group featuring M’Bulu) in mixing doo-wop, rhythm & blues and South African gospel and the mbaqanga/”Grazing in the Grass”-style work of the generically named Johannesburg Street Band to the clearly Fela-influenced Ojah (Masekela’s band in the mid-’70s, consisting of players from Ghana and Nigeria) and the ready-for-primetime belting of M’Bulu, each track reveals a multi-pronged effort to find and challenge the notion(s) of how African and American cultural forms could interact."

Track listing

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chisa Years 2006 compilation albums Hugh Masekela albums Albums produced by Stewart Levine