Hugh Masekela is back with a slamming, 20-piece, all-South African band, and a set of songs that blends jazz and pop and contrasts his gruff, tuneful, Louis Armstrong-inspired voice with smooth, swinging, and also tuneful flugelhorn playing. Masekela pays a good deal of homage here, to Elijah Nkwanyane, a saxophonist he played with in the Merry Makers during the 1950s, to Caiphus Semenya, a favorite composer, and to Spanish Harlem where Masekela received an education to Latin music after arriving in New York in 1960. The song "Conchita" celebrates that moment with robust nostalgia and nifty South Africa-meets-Latin arranging.

Masekela's early exile from South Africa made for a hard life, but it also broadened him musically as he moved around the world experiencing sounds and styles his friends back home rarely heard within the cocoon of Apartheid. Now, after more than a decade back in South Africa, Masekela returns vigorously to idiomatically South African genres, mbaqanga on a reworked prison chant called "Happy Mama," gospel jive on the hopeful opener, "Send Me," and cool Cape Town jazz on "Thimlela." A playful love song called "Magic" makes a fine addition to the ranks of "Wimoweh" clones.

"Old People, Old Folks" jauntily touts the enthusiasm of geriatric music fans. The sound is a throwback to the late-70s moment when soul turned to disco, but when Masekela starts out with a wailing, wavy line that vaguely echoes the crescendo of "Hello Dolly," the old Louis Armstrong connection resurfaces. Like Armstrong, Masekela is a jazz growler, a spirited, precise horn player, and a sponge for all the music around him, which by now is a lot. Masekela breaks the Armstrong mould with some tough lyrics on the album's standout track, "Change," where he wonders brazenly when Daniel Arap Moi, Robert Mugabe and other overwrought African leaders will finally say "Goodbye." Coming from a veteran like Masekela, these words carry weight, and the tune kicks out the stops with mischievous joy. In his home idiom with his home musicians, Masekela remains an important and relevant artist, despite the competition.

Contributed by: Banning Eyre for www.afropop.org