With the death of Hugh Masakela in January, we lost a genuine original and a true pioneer who helped to birth South African jazz. This live set, recorded at the Village Gate, New York City, in November 1965, captures the young trumpeter in his mid-twenties on blazing form, with a bright, clear tone, brash, energetic delivery and chops to spare. Tunes like ‘Morola’ hint at the jumping township jive of his homeland but he's already setting his sights wider, with tracks such as ‘Con Mucho Carino’ taking in peppy Afro-Cuban rhythms and making the case for Masakela as an early world music visionary. Cuts recorded at the same New York concerts had already been released as The Americanization Of Ooga Booga in 1966, and the two albums were combined for a CD release in 1996, which omitted the brooding, vocal-led ‘Child Of The Earth,’ the final track from The Lasting Impression.