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| 1. | The Plum Blossom
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| 2. | Blues for the Orient
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| 3. | Ching Miau
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| 4. | Don't Blame Me
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| 5. | Love Theme from "Spartacus"
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| 6. | Snafu
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| 7. | Purple Flower
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| 8. | Love Theme from "The Robe"
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| 9. | The Three Faces of Balal
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Jazz
Yusef Lateef - Bamboo Flute, Flute, Oboe, Performer, Sax (Tenor)
Barry Harris - Piano
Ernie Farrow - Bass, Rabat
Lex Humphries - Drums
* Don Schlitten - Cover Photo
* Esmond Edwards - Supervisor
* Joe Goldberg - Liner Notes
* Nick Phillips - Reissue Producer
* Rikka Arnold - Project Assistant
* Rudy Van Gelder - Author, Engineer, Remastering
* Stuart Kremsky - Production Assistant, Research
* Terri Hinte - Project Assistant
Whether his albums appeared under the logo of the forward-looking New Jazz, the contemplative Moodsville, or the parent label, Yusef Lateef never failed to offer a singular blend of jazz verities and cross-cultural initiatives in his years as a Prestige artist. Eastern Sounds, originally presented as a Moodsville disc, satisfied its initial mandate with tender readings of two movie themes and a luxurious "Don't Blame Me", while also including hard-swinging tenor sax ("Snafu"), soulful oboe ("Blues for the Orient"), and such iconoclastic colors as the sound of the Chinese globular flute and the Indian rabat (both heard on "The Plum Blossom"). A stellar working band, featuring fellow Detroiter Barry Harris on piano, helps the multi-instrumental pioneer Lateef realize his one-world vision of a music that knows neither stylistic boundaries nor expressive limitations.
"I was the engineer on the recording sessions and I also made the masters for the original LP issues of these albums. Since the advent of the CD, other people have been making the masters. Mastering is the final step in the process of creating the sound of the finished product. Now, thanks to the folks at the Concord Music Group who have given me the opportunity to remaster these albums, I can present my versions of the music on CD using modern technology. I remember the sessions well, I remember how the musicians wanted to sound, and I remember their reactions to the playbacks. Today, I feel strongly that I am their messenger."
---Rudy Van Gelder
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, All Music Guide
Yusef Lateef
Active Decades: '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: Oct 09, 1920 in Chatanooga, TN
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Modern Creative, World Fusion, Post-Bop, Hard Bop
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 name "jazz," has consistently created music that has stretched (and even broke through) boundaries. A superior tenor-saxophonist with a soulful sound and impressive technique, Lateef by the 1950s was one of the top flutists around. He also developed into the best jazz soloist to date on oboe, 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 passes under that label in the 1990s.
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 (1949-50). He was a fixture on the Detroit jazz scene of the 1950s 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 (1962-64). As a leader his string of Impulse recordings (1963-66) were among the finest of his career although Lateef's varied Atlantic sessions (1967-76) usually also had some strong moments. He spent some time in the 1980s teaching in Nigeria. His Atlantic records of the late '80s were closer to mood music (or new age) than jazz but in the 1990s (for his own YAL label) Yusef 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 |
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