Uhuru Afrika
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Uhuru Afrika | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | End of April 1961[1] | |||
| Recorded | November 1960 | |||
| Studio | Bell Sound, New York City | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Label | Roulette R 65001 | |||
| Producer | Teddy Reig | |||
| Randy Weston chronology | ||||
| ||||
Uhuru Afrika (subtitled/translated as Freedom Africa) is an album by American jazz pianist Randy Weston recorded in 1960 and originally released on the Roulette label.[2] The album features lyrics and liner notes by the poet Langston Hughes and was banned in South Africa in 1964, at the same time as was Lena Horne's Here's Lena Now! (Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite had been the victim of an earlier banning order), with copies of the albums being seized in Johannesburg and Cape Town.[3]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [4] |
| DownBeat |   [5] |
The contemporaneous DownBeat reviewer, Ira Gitler, commented that the opening movement was too long, that vocalist Peters was poor in the second movement, and that percussion and solos were effective in the third and fourth movements, respectively.[5] AllMusic awarded the album 5 stars, stating: "Uhuru Afrika is one of the finest (and earliest) combinations of African rhythms with advanced jazz and it features Weston utilizing a 24-piece big band".[4]