Trumpet great Hugh Masekela and piano master Larry Willis unite for a celebration of the Great American Songbook, LIVE from the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ! Once classmates at the Manhattan School of Music, the two took slightly different paths: Masekela scored some hit singles before turning his attention to the political climate in his native South Africa, while Willis has had an admirable career based in New York, spanning the free jazz, fusion, and post-bop movements of the past fifty years. Now they reunite with a new recording, the 4-disc Friends, and a string of intimate dates that showcase both artists’ virtuosity and immense emotional capacity.

Trumpet great Hugh Masekela and piano master Larry Willis unite for a celebration of the Great American Songbook, LIVE from the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ! Once classmates at the Manhattan School of Music, the two took slightly different paths: Masekela scored some hit singles before turning his attention to the political climate in his native South Africa, while Willis has had an admirable career based in New York, spanning the free jazz, fusion, and post-bop movements of the past fifty years. Now they reunite with a new recording, the 4-disc Friends, and a string of intimate dates that showcase both artists’ virtuosity and immense emotional capacity.