Yusef Lateef --Autophysiopsychic ?

chris · January 2, 2014

While I own a number of discs featuring Yusef Lateef, it was only after his passing that I read much about him. Is his idea of "Autophysiopsychic" music one that has gained traction among musicians? It's the first time I've heard of it.

Based on my reading about it at <http://www.yuseflateef.com/read-yusef-lateefs-essays>, I'm not sure I completely understand it (for instance, the notion that saying a musician was really "cooking" being a statement that is "at best ... a way of saying that the musician and his music be given no aesthetic or intellectual admiration" doesn't work for me, generally), but it does make me wonder if Lateef if ever read anything about the psychological concept of "flow states," which might have alleviated some of the skepticism of descriptors like "cooking."

Anyway, I was just curious about this idea!

Cyril · January 2, 2014

Lateef explains his meaning of Autophysiopsychic Music as coming from one’s physical, mental, and spiritual self or, more simply put, music from one’s heart. He likened the term jazz to its unseemly synonyms like “nonsense,” “blather,” “claptrap” and felt that it "reduced the music to poppycock and skulduggery... I find that the word 'jazz' is a meaningless term that too narrowly defines the music I play, and it adds a connotation that’s disrespectful to the art and those who perform it."

Source: http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/12/27/the-autophysiopsychic-music-diaspora-yusef-lateef-rip

chris · January 3, 2014

Thanks for the link. I still don't understand Lateef's position. Or I should say, I don't agree with it. But I wonder: do other musicians talk of Autophysiopsychic music? Is this a theory that other musicians work with?

David Ayers · January 4, 2014

I recently referenced a book on flow states in jazz, if that helps.

jazzbo · January 4, 2014

Thanks for the link. I still don't understand Lateef's position. Or I should say, I don't agree with it. But I wonder: do other musicians talk of Autophysiopsychic music? Is this a theory that other musicians work with?

I'm not sure exactly how seriously Lateef took this stuff. I don't really know of any other musician who did. . . .

JSngry · January 4, 2014

People look for ways to define themselves, not just as a way of self-preservation, but also as a way to prevent and/or defy "expectations", by others, and even by themselves.

A word like "Autophysiopsychic" is just another way to say, "hey, I'm not standing here being your purveyor of sweaty Negro sexdrug music (i.e. - "jazz"). If you hear that, fine, it's no doubt in there, but if you hear only that, then you are missing the point. There's more to it than that."

In other words, there's no math involved. no doctrines to subscribe/here to, no "ism"s. It's just a way to redirect the focus of the conversation, internally and externally.

Utevsky · January 5, 2014

So if I understand correctly, Yusef used the term as a substitute for "jazz," which he felt was demeaning, not to denominate his particular type of music. Ornette's "harmolodics" is an example of the latter. That said, Yusef was quite versatile. He covered a lot of ground in his career, in and out of "the tradition" of jazz.

chris · January 5, 2014

I recently referenced a book on flow states in jazz, if that helps.

Great link, thanks. It was Csikszentmihalyi's book _Flow_ that I was thinking of and which is important to that book (based on the introduction). Csikszentmihalyi's book is actually fascinating and far easier to read than his name

Rooster_Ties · October 16, 2018

Damn if some of this doesn't sound a ton (specifically in the vocal delivery) like Tyrone Washington's Do Right.

And I say that as someone deeply conflicted by Do Right -- meaning I'm not sure Yusef Lateef's lone(?) funk(!) album entitled Autophysiopsychic (CTI, 1977) is really all that much better, though I'll grant that it's perhaps slightly 'slicker'.

Only just stumbled on this for the very first time tonight. The tracks with vocals are easily as "haunting" as Do Right.

Tracks #3 & #4 (which seem to be largely instrumental) aren't half bad for what they are (and feature Art Farmer to good effect). The time-index points for the 5 tracks are as follows.

00:00 - Robot Man
06:37 - Look On Your Right Side
11:47 - YL (pronounced eel)
19:43 - Communication
29:05 - Sister Mamie

But the tracks (#1, #2, & #5) with vocals are all pure "Tyrone/Do-Right"...

Edited October 16, 2018 by Rooster_Ties

JSngry · October 16, 2018

Rooster_Ties · October 16, 2018

Gotta admit that I've been oblivious to Lateef's output much later than about 1966 or maybe 1967.

JSngry · October 16, 2018

Dude, that's almost 50 years of output. Don't think it's all more of the same, it's not. You might not like any of it (or you might), but it's diverse as fuck)