Yusef Lateef

Infobox musical artist
Name = Yusef Lateef

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Img_capt = Photo by Tom Beetz
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Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name = William Emanuel Huddleston
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Born = birth date and age|1920|10|9
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Origin = Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.
Instrument = Tenor saxophone, flute, oboe, bamboo flute, shanai, shofar, arghul, koto
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Genre = Jazz
Occupation = Saxophonist, Flautist
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Associated_acts = Cannonball Adderley, Elvin Jones, Adam Rudolph
URL =
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Dr. Yusef Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston, October 9, 1920) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator.

Known for his innovative blending of "Eastern" music with American jazz, Lateef's main instruments are tenor saxophone and flute, but he is one of few to play oboe or bassoon in jazz, and also plays various world music instruments, notably bamboo flute, shanai, shofar, arghul, sarewa, and koto.

Biography

Early life and career

Lateef was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but his family moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1925.

Throughout his early life Lateef came into contact with many noted Detroit-based jazz musicians, including vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Elvin Jones, and guitarist Kenny Burrell. Lateef was a proficient saxophonist by the time of his graduation from high school at age 18, at which point he launched his professional career and began touring with a number of swing bands.

In 1949, Lateef was invited by Dizzy Gillespie to tour with his world-renowned orchestra. At this time, Lateef was still known by the name William Evans, thereby making him one of three well-known jazz musicians (besides the pianist and the tenor saxophonist) bearing this name. Notably, all three played with Miles Davis during their careers.

In 1950, Lateef returned to Detroit and began his studies in composition and flute at Wayne State University. It was during this period that Lateef converted to the Islam.

Later career

Lateef first began recording as a leader in 1957 for Savoy Records working with musicians such as Wilbur Harden, a non-exclusive association which continued until 1959; the earliest of Lateef's album's for the Prestige subsidiary New Jazz overlap with them.

By 1961, with the recording of "Into Something" and "Eastern Sounds", Lateef's dominant presence within a group context had emerged. His "Eastern" influences are clearly audible in all of these recordings, using instruments like the rahab, shanai, arghul, koto and a collection of wooden Chinese flutes and bells along with his tenor and flute. Even his use of the western oboe sounds exotic in this context as it is not a standard jazz instrument but still the whole thing remains approachable for most Western ears. Indeed the tunes themselves are a mixture of jazz standards, blues and film music played with a piano/bass/drums rhythm section. Along with trumpeter Don Cherry, Lateef can lay claim to being among the first exponents of the world music jazz subgenre. Lateef also made numerous contributions to other people's albums including his time as a member of saxophonist Cannonball Adderley's Quintet from 1962-64.

Lateef's sound has been claimed to have been a major influence on the saxophonist John Coltrane, whose later period free jazz recordings contain similarly "Eastern" traits. For a time (1963-66) Lateef was signed to Coltrane's label, Impulse. He had a regular working group during this period, with trumpeter Richard Williams and Mike Nock on piano. They enjoyed a residency at Pep's Lounge during June 1964; an evening of which has been issued on CD.

In the late 1960s he began to incorporate contemporary soul and gospel phrasing into his music, still with a strong blues underlay, on albums such as "Detroit" and "Hush'n'Thunder".

Lateef has expressed a dislike of the terms "jazz" and "jazz musician" as musical generalizations. As is so often the case with such generalizations, the use of these terms do understate the breadth of his sound. For example, in the 1980s, Lateef experimented with new age and spiritual elements. His 1987 album "Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony" won the Grammy award for Best New Age Album. His core influences, however, are clearly rooted in jazz, and in his own words: "My music is jazz." [http://www.jazzweekly.com/interviews/Ylateef.htm]

In 1992, Lateef founded YAL Records, his own label for which he records today. In 1993, Lateef was commissioned by the WDR Radio Orchestra to compose "The African American Epic Suite", a four part work for orchestra and quartet based on themes of slavery and disfranchisement in the United States. The piece has since been performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Education and teaching

In 1960, Lateef again returned to school, studying flute at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Music in 1969 and a Master's Degree in Music Education in 1970. Starting in 1971, he taught courses in autophysiopsychic music at the Manhattan School of Music, and he became an associate professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in 1972.

In 1975, Lateef completed his dissertation on Western and Islamic education and earned a Ed.D. in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Lateef has written and published a number of books including a novella entitled "A Night in the Garden of Love" and the short story collections "Spheres" and "Rain Shapes". Along with his record label YAL Records, Lateef owns Fana Music, a music publishing company. Lateef publishes his own work through Fana, which includes "Yusef Lateef's Flute Book of the Blues" and many of his own orchestral compositions.

Autophysiopsychic Music

Autophysiopsychic Music refers to music which comes from one's spirituality or beliefs. Lateef has written extensively on the topic and includes it in his book "Yusef Lateef's Flute Book of the Blues".

It is mainly used as a means of composing spiritual folk music, however Lateef incorporated such elements into his own jazz compositions. However, his lessons are not limited to jazz or folk, as demonstrated by Toby Driver of the bands Maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot. In the liner notes of the albums "Bath" and "Leaving Your Body Map", Driver writes that the performers do not write music, they find pre-existing music in the Astral Plane, which the band members access through practicing Astral Projection.

Autophysiopsychic Music has not been widely used by other musicians, due to its highly personal and experimental approach to composition and instrumentation. The complexity and lack of rhythmic and compositional consonance make it a hard style of music to approach and is therefore quite inaccessible. It is for this reason little reference is made to it and therefore little is known about the actual method of practicing this style of music.

Discography

As leader

* "The Sounds of Yusef" (1957)
* "Other Sounds" (1957)
* "Jazz Mood" (1957)
* "Prayer to the East" (1957)
* "Cry! - Tender" (1959)
* "Contemplation" (1960)
* "The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef" (1960)
* "The Centaur and the Phoenix" (1961)
* "Into Something" (1961)
* "Eastern Sounds" (1961)
* "Live at Pep's" (1964, Impulse! Records)
* "Psychicemotus" (1965, Impulse! Records)
* "The Golden Flute" (1966, Impulse! Records)
* "1984" (1966, Impulse! Records)
* "The Blue Yusef Lateef" (1968) - Kenny Burrell, Blue Mitchell and Cecil McBee
* "Detroit" (1969)
* "The Diverse Yusef Lateef" (1970)
* "Hush 'N' Thunder" (1972)
* "The Gentle Giant" (1972)
* "Part of the Search" (1974)
* "The Doctor is In... And Out" (1974)
* "Ten Years Hence" (1975)
* "Every Village Has a Song" (1976)
* "Autophysiopsychic" (1978)
* "Concerto for Yusef Lateef" (1986)
* "The World at Peace" (1997)
* "Beyond the Sky" (2000)
* "" (2003)
* "The Doctor is In and Out" (2005)
* "Nocturnes" (2005)
* "The Complete Yusef Lateef" (2005)
* "The Blue Yusef Lateef" (2005)
* "B-Flat recordings" with Lionel and Stéphane Belmondo (2005)
* "10 Years Hence" (2008)

As sideman

* "Images of Curtis Fuller" (1960; Savoy Records)

External links

* [http://www.yuseflateef.com/ Official website] of Yusef Lateef
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* [http://www.jazzweekly.com/interviews/Ylateef.htm A Fireside Chat With Yusef Lateef] - an interview by Jazz Weekly
* [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/index.jsp?pid=32479&aid=1114471 Billboard Discography] - Billboard's complete discography of Yusef Lateef

Persondata
NAME=Lateef, Yusef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Lateef, Dr. Yusef; Huddleston, William Emanuel
SHORT DESCRIPTION=American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH=October 9, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH=Chattanooga, Tennessee
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=