Jun 13, 2009 By Kyle Lemmon

Hugh Masekela was one of South Africa’s cardinal jazz men when he decided to pack up his trumpet and leave his homeland due to a self-imposed émigré to object apartheid. He was also one of the first African musicians to strike out onto the world stage, with his proto tours with then-wife Miriam Makeba and later in support of Paul Simon during his Graceland period. The trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, and singer is 70 this year, but he has the verve of a man still exploring. Infuriately, one can’t always say that about the compositions on his 35th album, Phola. More