LETTA MBULU - Naturally

After recording her first two albums with David Axelrod (Letta Mbulu Sings, and Free Soul, in 1967, and 1968, respectively), then one for Hugh Masekela’s Chisa label, South African exile Letta Mbulu recorded this record for Fantasy. Unlike fellow expat Mariam Makeba, Letta, along with her husband Caiphus Semenya (who wrote and arranged most of this album), fully embraced the fusion of the sounds of her homeland and those of her adopted home in the US. Her more famous Axelrod records were hard to classify beyond their upbeat party numbers and jazzy go-go tunes, but by the time she recorded Naturally her sound had matured in a way that was less uptown and more of an honest, and yes, natural, blend of her roots with that laid-back, folky, gospel-soul stew that, by 1973, she and her husband had a better command of.

On one hand was the killer horn section of Jazz Crusader Wayne Henderson, plus the Adderley brothers, Nat and Cannonball, who set songs like “Hareje” on fire with its deliciously sunshiny mixolydian brass riff in one of the most uplifting tracks you’ll hear this year. Mbulu busts out some deep church 3-part harmonies on “Learn to Love” and “Never Leave You,” while setting some smooth spiritual jazz grooves on “Setho.”  Only an idealist would think such a beautiful merging of American and Soweto idioms could have had a greater influence, but those with clear hindsight will dig this as a rare treat indeed.