Yusef Lateef RIP

[mikeweil]

Brother Yusef is gone .........

[Adam]

Me too. R.I.P.

Oh dammit no... no, no, no!

This is too sad. I love Lateef's music, have done so since my early teens ... glad I saw him live, at least once.

r.i.p. - eternal thanks for the great music

[Peter Friedman]

I grew up in Detroit and fortunately had the opportunity to see Yusef Lateef live countless times. He was usually the leader of groups featuring musicians such as Curtis Fuller, Kenny Burrell, Ernie Farrow, Hugh Lawson, Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan, and various other good players. He led groups in a variety of venues and I probably visited them all to hear Yusef at one time or another.

Loved his tenor playing. He reached me deep down emotionally very often. His recordings on Savoy, Verve, Charlie Parker and as a sideman with Cannonball and Mingus are all special to me. After that he seemed to move in a different direction, and I lost touch with his playing. But those early records - wow! I never believed he got the recognition he deserved as one of the giants of the tenor saxophone.

R.I.P.

[medjuck]

Never saw him play - by the time I saw the Adderleys Charles Lloyd had replaced him - but once saw him walking across Leicester Square with his saxophone case at a time when he was appearing at Ronnie's.

I did see him with Cannonball. That would have been more than 50 years ago. Wow.

[BruceH]

RIP

[Mark Stryker]

In addition to my Lateef obituary for the Detroit Free Press that Michael Weiss linked to last night in post #34 (and which I'll repost below for convenience), here are some others I've seen posted today.

Don Heckman's piece in the LA Times is excellent. http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-yusef-lateef-20131225,0,7549278.story#axzz2oPXoozGp

Peter Keepnews iin the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/arts/music/yusef-lateef-innovative-jazz-saxophonist-and-flutist-dies-at-93.html?_r=0&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1387919951-ODBquGyKdOb9uaTU+LP0Fw

Howard Mandel's more personal reflections: http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2013/12/unforgettable-sounds-and-best-videos-of-yusef-lateef.html

Finally, here's my piece in case you missed it and want a look. http://www.freep.com/article/20131223/NEWS08/312230128/yusef-lateef-dies-obituary-jazz

There is confusion over his original name. Older sources have his original name as Williams Evans, which was the formal name he was using before converting to Islam (and he was known on early recordings as Bill Evans). However, more recent sources, list his original name as William Emanuel Huddleston -- except that in the very first sentence of his 2006 autobiography he spells his middle name with two m's as in Emmanuel. His website has it spelled Emanuel. I chose to go with the autobiography on the theory that there was a great chance that the website, which has other errors in the bio, was more likely incorrect than literally the first sentence of his autobiography which he would have proofed himself and which would have gone through his collaborator, additional copy editing at the like. But this is one that I don't think you'd solve without seeing the birth certificate.

In the autobiography, "The Gentle Giant," written with Herb Boyd, Yusef says his father changed the family name to Evans after arriving in Detroit for reasons that he never knew. The book, by the way, is very disappointing. Yusef apparently was not interested in telling stories and painting scenes, so there's little sense of atmosphere or character in what is a very flat narrative. I spoke with him a number of times, but interviewed him only once at length and while I got a little good stuff I recall it being a bit of a struggle to draw him out.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Mark Stryker

[king ubu]

There's a documentary film about him by a couple of Swiss guys, "Brother Yusef", that i found very good:

http://www.swissfilms.ch/en/film_search/filmdetails/-/id_film/2146532280

I really hate myself for not having been aware of his concert at Cully Jazz Festival in 2006 (with the Belmondo bros) - that was a helluva concert and I wasn't there.

The one time I saw him - with Archie Shepp in Nov. 2012 - he didn't seem to bother too much (and Shepp, well, he was being Shepp ... they had a *great* rhythm section backing them though, with the late Mulgrew Miller, Reggie Workman and reggae drummer supreme Hamid Drake).

[rwhillman]

Thanks Yusef. RIP

[imeanyou]

Oh no! Never had a chance to see him but when I discovered his music I knew, like with Monk, I was 'home'. So much music, so much of it wonderful. A true originator, thanks for the music Mr. Lateef.

[Justin V]

I'm not as familiar with his music as I'd like to be, but he had such a beautiful, full-bodied and distinctive sound on his instruments. Thank you for the music, Dr. Lateef.

[Michael Weiss]

Check out Yusef on 'Teef from Sonny Red's Breezing on Jazzland.

The whole solo is here:

https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Sonny_Red_Breezing_A_Story_Tale_The_Mode_Images?id=Bnr4pvbpi7q5n3qshtwte6v3uq4&hl=en

[CJ Shearn]

AAJ posted a great interview with him from 2000. I love how he said to not classify his music as jazz, it seems he crushed the interviewer quite a bit though. A trap I'd like to avoid while interviewing some big names in the future, while keeping in mind a general audience is reading.

[Dan Gould]

I feel like I've slept a bit on Mr. Lateef, for several reasons. One being my knee-jerk reaction to the tonality of the flute in jazz, and also due to the perception/understanding that his music went more 'out' as time went on, and when I first became aware of him (and having felt a little burned having followed Coltrane to the edges of the universe) and having so much other music to enjoy wholeheartedly, I never sought out his leader dates. I have the sidemen gigs, at least quite a few of them, and wasn't there a Vee Jay leader date that came out on a two-fer with another record? I also had his Argo release but got that mostly because I was collecting Argo at that time.

Anyway, I feel like I really need to rectify this and having received multiple gift cards last night I plan to do so very soon. Contemplation, and the Savoy recordings look very much up my alley, and I am curious about that Label M release, too.

RIP.

[king ubu]

Savoy, Prestige, Riverside, Argo, Verve ... can't go wrong! Add the Adderley sextet, the Vee Jay (led by Louis Hayes, there's an one-fer with bonus tracks), abd the Impulse albums, too ... he rarely went "out" for good, you'll get plenty of unusual sounds though, such as gongs, finger cymbals, the argol, the rebab, and of course some glorious oboe (favourite: "Trouble in Mind" on "Cannonball in Europe!" - just 'teef & rhythm).

Had I to pick one, it might be "Live at Pep's", great Lateef, poised Richard Williams (now there's an unsung musician) and a great rhythm section led by Mike Nock.

[bertrand]

So his only appearance on Vee-Jay is the louis Hayes record, correct?

Is Pep's still in print?

Thanks!

Bertrand.

Edited December 25, 2013 by bertrand

[Dan Gould]

the Vee Jay (led by Louis Hayes, there's an one-fer with bonus tracks),

OK, now I see that the Vee Jay was issued with a Buddy DeFranco LP, and then again with a whole set of alternates. So I actually have what was issued in the 70s under Yusef's name as Contemplation - which was also reissued as standalone CD, but no alternates. Wondering if those alternates are worth re-purchasing.

[paul secor]

He did recordings in 1992 with Archie Shepp and Von Freeman for his own YAL label that showed he was still open and searching at an age when many other musicians would not have been.

Thank you, Mr. Lateef.

[king ubu]

the Vee Jay (led by Louis Hayes, there's an one-fer with bonus tracks),

OK, now I see that the Vee Jay was issued with a Buddy DeFranco LP, and then again with a whole set of alternates. So I actually have what was issued in the 70s under Yusef's name as Contemplation - which was also reissued as standalone CD, but no alternates. Wondering if those alternates are worth re-purchasing.

It's been a while, need to listen again ...

He did recordings in 1992 with Archie Shepp and Von Freeman for his own YAL label that showed he was still open and searching at an age when many other musicians would not have been.

Thank you, Mr. Lateef.

There's a third with Ricky Ford. But somehow I never really liked those all that much, not even 'teefski and Vonski.

There seems to be a good quartet disc from the same period that I've meant to check out for some time ... anyone knows it?

As for prime late Lateef, I very much love the 2005 2CD set with the Belmondo Brothers!

www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000A0HG52/1388061844

[JSngry]

The YAL record with Rene McLean is a deeply quirky gem.

[Milestones]

R.i.P.

Not an artist I followed closely, but it seemed like an interesting career. I've liked what I've heard: Live at Pep's,The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef, and The Blue Yusef Lateef. I have one of the "Tenors" records too, though never did listen to it much. In terms of eclecticism and the facility on many instruments, he reminded me a bit of Roland Kirk. In terms of the oboe, is there anyone who matched him? I also love his flute work, which I feel ranks with that of Dolphy and Kirk--in other words, at the very top.

[mikeweil]

I first heard Lateef's Prestige and Savoy albums which were availabke cheaply as twofers back then, although I hated their sometimes scattered compilations over several sessions. Liked his playing on the spot. But what made me love him was his intense flute on The Gentle Giant ....

[7/4]

WKCR memorial from 12 midnight Wednesday, January 1 to 9:30am Thursday, January 2.

[sgcim]

I'm digging the KCR Memorial now. I have to admit to being more partial to his traditional stuff than the later stuff, but RIP to a great wind player.

A trumpet player friend of mine was his mentor when Yuself was a student teacher at a public school in the Bronx.

They used to put on jazz concerts every week in the school, and have public debates about jazz afterward, and the kids loved it.

If someone tried to do that in the NYC public schools of today, you'd be out on the street in a minute.

Bloomberg finally gave up his stranglehold on the schools today, but it will take decades to undo the harm he's done.

My friend has some great framed pictures of himself and Yusef playing on the school auditorium stage.

[Cali]

Favorite albums DETROIT and EASTERN SOUNDS.

[clifford_thornton]

As I've strangely never gotten into his music (don't know why), I can only express respect for his doing what he wanted to do, with conviction and influence, for quite a long time.

RIP.