Yusef Lateef

Album: Eastern Sounds

Intérprete(s): Yusef Lateef

Año de Edición: 1991
Sello: Ojc

1. The Plum Blossom 5:03
2. Blues for the Orient 5:40
3. Chinq Miau 3:20
4. Don't Blame Me 4:57
5. Love Theme from "Spartacus" 4:15
6. Snafu 5:42
7. Purple Flower 4:32
8. Love Theme from "The Robe" 4:02
9. The Three Faces of Balal 2:23

Total Running time: 39:54

ALBUM DETAILS: Release Date: Jul 1 1991 Original Release Date: 1961 Total Running time: 39:54 Label: OJC Catalog No.: 612 UPC: 25218661225

CRÉDITOS

RESEÑAS

One of multi-instrumentalist and composer Yusef Lateef's most enduring recordings, Eastern Sounds was one of the last recordings made by the band that Lateef shared with pianist Barry Harris after the band moved to New York from Detroit, where the jazz scene was already dying. Lateef had long been interested in Eastern music, long before John Coltrane had ever shown any public interest anyway, so this Moodsville session (which meant it was supposed to be a laid-back ballad-like record), recorded in 1961, was drenched in Lateef's current explorations of Eastern mode and interval, as well as tonal and polytonal improvisation. That he could do so within a context that was accessible, and even "pretty," is an accomplishment that stands today. The quartet was rounded out by the inimitable Lex Humphries on drums -- whose brushwork was among the most deft and inventive of any player in the music with the possible exception of Connie Kay from the Modern Jazz Quartet -- and bass and rabat player Ernie Farrow. The set kicks off with "The Plum Blossom," a sweet oboe and flute piece that comes from an Eastern scale and works in repetitive rhythms and a single D minor mode to move through a blues progression and into something a bit more exotic, which sets up the oboe-driven "Blues for the Orient." Never has Barry Harris' playing stood up with more restraint to such striking effect than it does here. He moves the piece along with striking ostinatos and arpeggios that hold the center of the tune rather than stretch it. Lateef moans softly on the oboe as the rhythm section doubles, then triples, then half times the beat until it all feels like a drone. There are two cinematic themes here -- he cut themes from the films Spartacus and The Robe, which are strikingly, hauntingly beautiful -- revealing just how important accessibility was to Lateef. And not in the sense of selling out, but more in terms of bringing people to this music he was not only playing, but discovering as well. (Listen to Les Baxter and to the early-'60s recordings of Lateef -- which ones are more musically enduring?) However, the themes set up the deep blues and wondrous ballad extrapolations Lateef was working on, like "Don't Blame Me" and "Purple Flower," which add such depth and dimension to the Eastern-flavored music that it is hard to imagine them coming from the same band. Awesome. Thom Jurek - AMG

BIOGRAFÍA

Yusef Lateef

Saxofonista tenor, flauta (Detroit, Michigan, 1921).

Nació bajo el nombre de William Evans, estudio saxo tenor y alto en Detroit , trasladándose después (1946) a Nueva York, donde consiguió su primer contrato importante en la orquesta de Lucky Milinder.
Participó de la orquesta de Dizzy Gillespie, a la cual se integró en la segunda mitad del año 1949 John Coltrane. Justamente fue Lateef quien iniciara a Coltrane en el estudio de la religión y filosofía orientales, que desempeñarían un importante papel en la obra del saxofonista.

Volvió a Detroit para estudiar flauta y composición. En este período se convirtió a la religión islamica y adopto el nombre su actual nombre.

La decisión, frecuente entre los músicos negros de la época, representaba, en realidad, algo mas que una moda: una elección meditada que permite la identificación tantas veces negada a los hombres de su raza; por otra parte , el interés de Lateef por el Islam, lo llevó a aprender instrumentos como el argol (especie de fagot proveniente de Siria) y varias flautas étnicas. Lejos del exotismo, sin embargo, la música de Yusef Lateef explora minuciosamente la propia tradición, utilizando elementos ajenos para profundizar mejor en las raíces de una música que tradicionalmente ha sabido valerse de recursos extraños a su propia historia para mejor afirmar su propia personalidad.

En 1960 se trasladó a Nueva York, donde formó un cuarteto y poco después fue contratado por Charles Mingus, en el que acompañó en el disco Pre Bird como flautista junto a Eric Dolphy. Con el saxo tenor, se mantendrá fiel a los conceptos del be-bop en sus improvisaciones y actuará en particular con el sexteto de Cannonball Adderley entre 1962 y 1964. Desde entonces dedica la mayor parte de su tiempo a la enseñanza, aunque sigue tocando lo que él llama música “auto-fisio-psiquica”.