Legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen is set to release his special collaborative album with late South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela on Friday, March 20.
Titled “Rejoice,” LP was crafted off recording sessions they had when their UK touring schedules coincided in 2010.
The album would contain eight tracks and features contributions from a string of new generation jazz musicians like Tom Herbert, Steve Williamson, Mutale Chasi and Joe Armon-Jones.
When Masekela passed away in 2018, Tony Allen linked up with the producer, Nick Gold to retouch the original recordings and finish up the album in 2019. This was all done with the permission of the late trumpeter’s estate.
Speaking about the project’s lead single ‘We’ve Landed’, Tony Allen reveals that “the lyrics address people at 17, 18, 19 years old who are slowly becoming more mature, finding out who they are and realising that it’s their generation’s turn to wake up.”
The Grammy-nominated Hugh Masekela who was commonly called the father of South African jazz died after a battle with prostate cancer on 23 January 2018.
“Rejoice” would be his first posthumous album, coming four years after his final solo album, “No Border.”