Search - Artist/Band: Yusef Lateef

• Name: Yusef Lateef
• Birthday: 10/09/1920
• Birth Place: Chatanooga, TN
• Decades Active: 1930,1940,1950,1960,1970,1980,1990,2000
• Genre: Jazz
• Styles: Hard Bop, Post-Bop, Modern Creative, Jazz Instrument, Saxophone Jazz, World Fusion
• Moods: Elegant, Plaintive, Reflective, Spiritual, Complex, Elaborate, Organic, Sophisticated, Uncompromising, Enigmatic, Intimate, Cerebral, Passionate

Title	Release
Incontournables W	01/14/2008
Yusef's Mood, Vol. 1: Complete 1957 Sessions W	2008
Yusef's Mood, Vol. 2: Complete 1957 Sessions W	2008
Beautiful Flowers	12/06/2005
Suite 16 [Collectables] WA	10/26/2004
Beyond the Sky	11/14/2000
Last Savoy Sessions	03/14/2000
A Gift: Goodness Inwardness Forgiving Tolerance	1999
9 Bagatelles	1998
Like the Dust	1998
CHNOPS: Gold & Soul	03/11/1997
Earth and Sky	1997
Sonata Fantasia	1997
African-American Epic Suite	10/15/1996
Full Circle	1996
Yusef Lateef's Fantasia for Flute WA	1996
The Diverse Yusef Lateef/Suite 16	1994
Tenors of Yusef Lateef & Archie Shepp WA	05/1993
Heart Vision	01/1992
Tenors of Yusef Lateef & Von Freeman WA	1992
Yusef Lateef's Encounters	05/06/1991
Meditations	02/1990
Nocturnes	02/1989
Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony	06/1987
Autophysiopsychic	10/1977
The Doctor Is In & Out	03/01/1976
Part of the Search	1974
Hush 'N' Thunder WA	08/1973
The Gentle Giant WA	1972
The Diverse Yusef Lateef WA	1970
The Blue Yusef Lateef WA	1969
Yusef Lateef's Detroit WA	1969
The Complete Yusef Lateef WA	05/31/1967
The Golden Flute WA	1966
1984 WA	02/24/1965
Psychicemotus WA	06/29/1964
Into Something WA	12/29/1961
Eastern Sounds WA	09/05/1961
The Centaur and the Phoenix WA	1961
Lost in Sound WA	10/22/1960
The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef WA	05/09/1960
Contemplation	04/30/1960
Cry!/Tender	10/16/1959
Other Sounds	10/11/1957
The Sounds of Yusef WA	10/11/1957
Prayer to the East WA	10/10/1957
Before Dawn	04/16/1957
Jazz Moods WA	04/09/1957

Yusef Lateef has long had an inquisitive spirit and he was never just a bop or hard bop soloist. Lateef, who does not care much for the term "jazz," has consistently created music that has stretched (and even broken through) boundaries. A superior tenor saxophonist with a soulful sound and impressive technique, by the 1950s, Lateef was one of the top flutists around. He also developed into the best jazz soloist to date on oboe, was an occasional bassoonist, and introduced such instruments as the argol (a double clarinet that resembles a bassoon), shanai (a type of oboe), and different types of flutes. Lateef played "world music" before it had a name and his output was much more creative than much of the pop and folk music that passed under that label in the '90s.

Yusef Lateef grew up in Detroit and began on tenor when he was 17. He played with Lucky Millinder (1946), Hot Lips Page, Roy Eldridge, and Dizzy Gillespie's big band (1949-1950). He was a fixture on the Detroit jazz scene of the '50s where he studied flute at Wayne State University. Lateef began recording as a leader in 1955 for Savoy (and later Riverside and Prestige) although he did not move to New York until 1959. By then he already had a strong reputation for his versatility and for his willingness to utilize "miscellaneous instruments." Lateef played with Charles Mingus in 1960, gigged with Donald Byrd, and was well-featured with the Cannonball Adderley Sextet (1962-1964). As a leader, his string of Impulse recordings (1963-1966) was among the finest of his career although Lateef's varied Atlantic sessions (1967-1976) also had some strong moments. He spent some time in the '80s teaching in Nigeria. His Atlantic records of the late '80s were closer to mood music (or new age) than jazz, but in the '90s, (for his own YAL label) Lateef has recorded a wide variety of music (all originals) including some strong improvised music with the likes of Ricky Ford, Archie Shepp, and Von Freeman. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide