On January 23 2018, the great South African trumpeter/composer/vocalist/humanitarian Hugh Masekela passed away. His music, message and giant personality touched many across the globe, influencing many new genres of music.

 To celebrate Bra Hugh's immense talents, #JazzOn45 brings you an all-Hugh 45 set of some favorites. Each 45 is played in it's entirety (A side/B side) and are sequenced in chronological order. 

Be sure to check in over at Wax Poetics for a proper tracklist/write up that will be posted as soon as possible... 

She's Comin' My Way
Unhlanhla
“Chisa”
What Is Wrong With Groovin’
Son Of Ice Bag
Up-Up and Away
Grazing In The Grass
Bajabula Bonke
Riot
Mace and Grenades

#JazzOn45 Vol. 5 - Hugh Masekela Special Edition

Original compositions by Todd M. Simon for the KCRW political talk show: Left, Right & Center. 

Credits:
Production, Keys, Programming, Trumpet & Flugelhorn - Todd M. Simon
Drums - Jake Najor
Mixed by Stephen Kaye

LRC Snap

LRC Bounce

LRC Theme

The sounds of Spring compiled by Todd M. Simon. Snuggle up and enjoy the sounds while being socially distant. #HodgePodgeLA will resume every Tuesday @ Apothéke and every 3rd Sunday @ Mayfair Hotel at a future time.

#HodgePodgeLA Seasonal Mix: Spring pt. 1

Horn arrangements for David Sitek's Maximum Balloon.

Todd Simon - Tiger (Maximum Balloon)

Here's the 2nd volume with the sounds of Spring compiled by Todd M. Simon. Snuggle up and enjoy the sounds featuring: Monster Rally, Wun Two, Dalton, Gabor Szabo, Stereolab, Brainstory and more! . #HodgePodgeLA will resume every Tuesday @ Apothéke and every 3rd Sunday @ Mayfair Hotel at a future time.

Toddm

Todd M. Simon presents #HodgePodgeLA Seasonal Mix: Spring pt. 2

Todd Simon is a multi-instrumentalist composer, arranger and performer living and working in sunny Los Angeles, CA.  Todd has found a niche providing soulful horn and string sounds for countless projects whether they are on wax, TV, or on the big screen and has had his unique sound tapped by artists and producers such as David Sitek, Rhye, Adrian Younge, Ghostface Killah and Lily Allen. In addition to working out of his own NuFi Studios, Todd frequents Hollywood’s finest studios.

After helping brew the funky-breakbeat institution known as Breakestra, Todd went on to tour the world with Macy Gray where he refined his deeper Soul roots. LA wasn’t enough so Todd relocated himself to NYC where he found himself immersed in the scene with Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Antibalas, Ming + FS, DJ Spinna, Tiklah’s Roots Combination, Dub Is A Weapon, Sugarman 3 and El Michels Affair.

Todd returned to LA and reunited with Breakestra-mate Dan Ubick to help create Connie Price and the Keystones, a cinematic-soul inspired outfit that has gone on to back up Big Daddy Kane, Percee P, Too Short and many other Hip-Hop masters. Impressed by his arranging chops, Stone Throw Records asked Todd to arrange for Madlib’s YNQ project: Sound Directions.
In 2004, Todd joined forces with the Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) acting as arranger, conductor, and trumpeter for an exciting event called ArRange, combined old school arrangers David Matthews (James Brown, CTI, Kudu, etc), Claire and Brent Fischer (Prince, Dizzy Gillespie, MPS, etc.) and Deodato (Bjork, Kool and the Gang, Joao Donato, etc.) with new school producers OHNo, Underground Resistance and Kirk DiGiorgio. Todd prepared and led the ensemble in a performance with the Northwest Sinfonia at a live performance in Seattle’s McCaw Hall. RBMA was so impressed with Todd’s work that they asked him to take part as a studio mentor/lecturer for their 2006 Melbourne Academy with incredible peers Wajeed, Flying Lotus, Cut Chemist, and the Bamboos.

Using his rolodex of LA’s top musicians, Todd pursued a dream of recording his own Jamaican inspired project The Lions. This led to yet another arranging opportunity, this time with Ubiquity Records, where Todd has arranged for artists such as: DJ Greyboy, Quantic, Clutchy Hopkins, Ohmega Watts, Orgone and Shawn Lee.

 

Todd’s skill for arranging has also been relied upon by ESL’s Ocote Soul Sounds, Rockstar Games (L.A. Noire and Undead Nightmare), composers Stephen Trask (Sexdrive) and Mike Andrews (Stuck On You), and TLC’s Take Home Chef.

Todd has recently been in the studio with Kelis, Liam Gallagher's Beady Eyes, Dave Sitek, Rhye, The Delfonics, TV On The Radio, Mayer Hawthorne, MF Doom, Flying Lotus, Jneiro Jarel, Sam Sparro and Quadron.  He also recently performed with long time heroes Mulatu Astatke and Arthur Verocai as part of the Mochilla TIMELESS Series, in addition to playing with El-P on Conan and playing (for the 5th time) with Nas and Swizz Beats at the 2012 ESPY Awards.


Todd M. Simon

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