King of highlife anthology

"[Highlife] came from Ghana, principally, most famously and winningly from the educated horns of E T Mensah and his smartly turned-out Tempos. The evidence is all here (...): urbane, good-humoured music, both indigenous and as acceptable in polite society as Edmundo Ros' bandleader smile. Taking American swing and adding many local rhythms, a bit of Latin and a great dollop of calypso, E T Mensah was its great architect".

"Ghanian saxophonist, trumpeter and bandleader Emmanuel Tetty Mensah was a key figure in the development of highlife, a hybrid of European ballroom music and swing jazz with Latin, Caribbean and African style. This brilliant 4-CD box set draws together 69 tracks from the 1950's and '60s, when Mensah and his ever-changing Tempos commanded a massive following throughout West Africa".