Randy Weston: Uhuru Afrika (Roulette, 1961)

Uhuru Afrika was a monumental release: a 24-piece big band playing Melba Liston’s arrangements of Weston’s music, with poetry and lyrics by Langston Hughes, in a four-movement suite that fused jazz with African rhythms and song structures. Its music is so powerful that it was banned in South Africa. It also became the launchpad for the rest of Weston’s career, which saw him dubbed “America’s African Musical Ambassador.” MICHAEL J. WEST

Learn more about Uhuru Afrika on Amazon.