If there is one person who sums up South Africa鈥檚 contribution to jazz it has to be the trumpeter Hugh Masekela.
Sure, there have been other great players from the southern tip of Africa, a country which has punched above its weight in its contribution to today鈥檚 jazz, not least in the influence its exiles have had on British jazz since the 1960s. But Masekela encapsulates not only the deeply soulful playing of that land, but also its exuberance and joy.
For a substantial part of my life I couldn鈥檛 hear him play in the flesh 鈥 I was in South Africa and he couldn鈥檛 (indeed wouldn鈥檛) re-enter the country where he would have been a second-class citizen and had his freedom to live and create severely hampered.
Since then he has added the joy of return to the pain of exile and has created an ever-richer, multi-layered sound in his music.
On Saturday Hugh Masekela plays Birmingham Town Hall with the US pianist Larry Willis for company. The two go back a long way, right back to the Manhattan School of Music, where they met back in the early 鈥60s.
Together they explore the music they love, both American jazz standards and Masekela鈥檚 own South African music. It is an intimate affair, filled with story-telling, both in the music and between numbers.
Oh, and Hugh is not just a great trumpeter, of course 鈥 he is one of my favourite jazz singers, too.
Hugh Masekela and Larry Willis, with singer Zena Edwards in the support slot, are in Birmingham Town Hall on Saturday at 8pm. This is a Jazzlines gig , more at
* On Tuesday it鈥檚 turn of the finest in European free jazz when the Schlippenbach Trio 鈥 Alex Von Schlippenbach on piano, Evan Parker on saxophone and Paul Lovens on drums - meet Noszferatu, a British band exploring new improvisations with rock and tango influences.
Evan Parker is one of the giants of post-Coltrane saxophone playing and he plays in the Midlands all too rarely, so do take this opportunity to hear him with musicians who have been touring every year for the past 25.
Noszferatu have been together a mere 13 years and include saxophonist Finn Peters and composer Joe Cutler.
This double bill is at the CBSO Centre, it starts at 8pm. More at
* Finally, there are two terrific female interpreters of song in town this week.
Tomorrow Swedish singer Emilia Martensson and her British pianist partner Barry Green play the Jazzlines Free Jazz session at Symphony Hall Cafe Bar from 5pm.
The duo made a terrific album called And So It Goes for the Babel label and their love of good songs and musical rapport should make this a goodie.
On Wednesday, Madeleine Peyroux takes to the Town Hall stage with her band and the united view that 鈥渢he only thing that matters is the song鈥.
More about both of these events at
