A longtime audiophile demonstration disc. "Hope" will show off your system's dynamic range as well as any record ever released. Hugh Masekela, the outstanding South African trumpeter, assembled a seven-piece group and recorded this great set live at Washington, D.C.'s Blues Alley. The songs stretch over a period of nearly five decades and serve as an informal guided tour of Masekela's life. The songs are honest and bare, and as for the sound – WOW! « ... "Hope" is one of those intensely visceral, large as life, and immediately present recordings that will make pretty much any system sound at least very good, and will cause better ones to raise goose bumps.» – Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound, August 2008
Hugh Masekela (tr, flh); Ngenekhaya Mahlanghu (fl, perc, sax, voc); Themba Mkhize (keyb, voc); Lawrence Matshiza (g, voc); Bakithi Khumalo (b, voc); Remi Kabaka (perc, voc); Damon Duewhite (dr), a.o.