1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
excellent, January 22, 2010
This review is from: Promise of a Future (Audio CD)
Before Hugh Masekela was arranging musicals, he was arranging pop songs. His work on "Grazing In The Grass" did the same thing Sergio Mendes did so well. Take pop and make it into little mini-jazz tunes.
This 1968 album does this with pop songs, covers and Masekela's own material. It is pop, but high pop, with the flow of jazz. Very few people could take music, make it sophistacated, but keep it prime for 1960s AM radio, but he does.
"Bajabula Boggie" is more jazz, and shows what Masekela could do outside of a AM singles context, and that is great too.
If FM radio ignored this material--I was just a baby so couldn't say for sure-they should never have. As jazz and pop, it all works.
Maybe they used "Grazin' In The Grass" between DJ shifts to go into news, like they did another ace on the lighter side of jazz, Wes Montgomery
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