Before it became a genre of its own, exotic sounds from other countries was brought into the jazz field by multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef (1920-2013). First and best known for his big and beefy tenor sax, Lateef eventually added a plethora of instruments from other worlds, like the shanai, the double clarinet argol and various flutes. These eight albums capture his musical world view, demonstrating Lateef’s ability to make jazz a universal language.
His 1957 The Sound Of Yusef is a perfect intro, with Lateef playing four different instruments with Wilbur Harden/fh, Hugh Lawson/p-perc, Ernie Farrow/b-perc and Oliver Jackson/dr/perc. His flute leads the way on “Take The A Train”, with some African tones felt on the exciting “Playful Flute” and textured “Love and Humor”. Next year’s band with essentially the same gents has Lateef swinging the blues in “Minor Mode” with a humorous “Mahaba” featuring the band singing in made up languages. 1960 keeps the almost same unit, but they stretch the musical boundaries a bit, with accessible pieces like ‘Butter’s Blues” and “If You Could See Me Now’ having a wider dynamism and harmonic sophistication.
Lateef took a major step forward in 1962 with the classic Eastern Sounds, with a new team of Barry Harris/p, Lex Hymphries/dr, Ernie Farrow/b and Lateef exploring sounds from Asia way before John Coltrane. His tenor smolders on “Blues For The Orient” and glistens on “The Plum Blossom” and the classic rendition on the “Love Theme From Sparticus”. The followup is just as strong, with Elvin Jones on drums for a glorious “You’ve Changed” and exotic “Koko’s Tune”. He brings in trumpeter Richard Williams while playing bassoon, tenor sax, oboe and flute on “Trouble In Mind” and the clever “The Volga Rhythm Song”. A gig at Pep’s in 1964 has Lateef pulling out the arsenal of instruments with Williams, Mike Nock/p, Ernie Farrow/b and James N. Black/dr for a strong outing with blues like “See See Rider”, albeit in a creative treatise, as well as improvising freely on “The Magnolia Triangle”. With bassist Reggie Workman sitting in, Lateef brings in some elliptical ideas on “Try Love” as well as gut level blues as on “Soul Sister”. Few artists were able to straddle the roots of jazz with travels a la Marco Polo as Lateef. This journey is a National Geographic of jazz.