Two years after the South African trumpeter’s death, this 2010 studio session with the legendary Nigerian drummer documents their unique fusion of Afrobeat and jazz. Tony has lived many lives as a drummer in the decades since he first got behind a trap kit.

His various collaborations and genre shifts are numerous and well documented, evidence of a lifetime of curiosity.

But Allen will forever be known as the virtuosic drummer in Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 band—the man whose genre-defining rhythms drove the Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer’s renowned sound. The legacy of the late Hugh Masekela, who died in 2018, is no less majestic. As a trumpeter he made his mark on every band he played with.

Exiled from South Africa during apartheid, he spent much of the 1960s in London and New York, scoring a No.1 hit with “Grazing in the Grass” and making a name for himself on the Manhattan jazz scene. By 1984 he was in West Africa, where, through Fela, his friend and contemporary, he met Allen.

 

Two years after the South African trumpeter&rsquo;s death, this 2010 studio session with the legendary Nigerian drummer documents their unique fusion of Afrobeat and jazz. Tony has lived many lives as a drummer in the decades since he first got behind a trap kit.
His various collaborations and genre shifts are numerous and well documented, evidence of a lifetime of curiosity.
But Allen will forever be known as the virtuosic drummer in Fela Kuti&rsquo;s Africa 70 band&mdash;the man whose genre-defining rhythms drove the Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer&rsquo;s renowned sound. The legacy of the late Hugh Masekela, who died in 2018, is no less majestic. As a trumpeter he made his mark on every band he played with.
Exiled from South Africa during apartheid, he spent much of the 1960s in London and New York, scoring a No.1 hit with &ldquo;Grazing in the Grass&rdquo; and making a name for himself on the Manhattan jazz scene. By 1984 he was in West Africa, where, through Fela, his friend and contemporary, he met Allen.
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