R.I.P.: Legendary Musician Hugh Masekela Was 78

Hugh Masekela

Legendary South African musician Hugh Masekela died on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer, the South African government announced on its official Twitter page.

He was 78, according to CNN.

Known as the father of South African jazz, the trumpet master channeled the struggle against apartheid into soulful compositions that championed the experiences of ordinary South Africans.

In 1960, at the age of 21, Masekela left South Africa to begin what would be 30 years in exile from the land of his birth. On arrival in New York he enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music.
He immersed himself in the New York jazz scene, watching jazz greats such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

According to his official biography, fellow jazz trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong encouraged Masekela to develop his own unique style, feeding off African rather than American influences. Masekela's debut album, released in 1963, was entitled Trumpet Africaine.



In the late 1960s, in the heat of the "Summer of Love," Masekela moved to Los Angeles, where he fell in with hippie icons like David Crosby, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.

During this period he performed alongside Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Ravi Shankar, The Who and Jimi Hendrix. In 1968, his instrumental single 'Grazin' in the Grass' went to Number One on the American pop charts and was a worldwide smash, elevating Hugh onto the international stage.