Hugh and Ayanna jam at Warwick Arts Centre tonight

The music of Hugh Masekela blends jazz and Afro-Pop, using the characteristic sounds of South African choirs and voices as essential ingredients, alongside soaring trumpet and distinctive flugelhorn-playing.

As a boy growing up in the impoverished townships of South Africa, he was inspired to learn the trumpet after seeing Kirk Douglas play Bix Beiderbecke in Young Man With A Horn.

He begged one of his teachers - the anti-apartheid crusader Father Trevor Huddleston - to buy him a horn and in return he promised to stay out of trouble.

Hugh Masekela made a name for himself with his fusion of African jazz music and became a ‘flower child’, playing with music greats Jimi Hendrix and the Byrds.

He can also be heard adding his distinctive voice and flugelhorn to many other world artists’ recordings - including some of Bob Marley’s earliest recordings and Buena Vista Social Club bassist Cachaito Lopez’s 2001 solo record.

At the age of 73, Masekela still continues to maintain a very active tour schedule and will be joined tonight by rising star Ayanna, with her beguiling vocals and sweet cello-playing.

A composer, jazz vocalist, cellist and pianist, Ayanna has written for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles, big bands, string quartets and choirs as well as songs, soundscapes and pieces for solo instruments and tape, across a range of styles including jazz, classical, contemporary, R&B, soul, reggae and electro-acoustic.