Craft Reissues Major Yusef Lateef Album

Cover of the album being discussed (from the album’s Wikipedia page)

Unless something in my archives has escaped my attention, the only time I ever wrote anything of substance about jazz multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef was when I took George Crumb to task for not being particularly innovative in the sonorities he summoned up for “Vox Balaenae;” and I wrote that back in my Examiner.com days! To be fair, Lateef did show up on this site, but only in the list of the National Endowment for the Arts’ 2010 Jazz Masters Awards. Returning to present day, at the beginning of this month Craft Recordings announced the (latest) reissue of Lateef’s Eastern Sounds album, which was first released in April of 1962 following a single session at the Van Gelder Studio on September 5, 1961. I am sure that many readers will not be surprised at Amazon.com not keeping up with the reissue, and the new release is available for purchase on its own Craft Web page.

For those unfamiliar with Lateef, his talent as a multi-instrumentalist took on a prodigious variety. (He died on December 23, 2013 at the age of 93.) He is pictured on the album cover (above) with his tenor saxophone. The other instruments he plays on Eastern Sounds are flute, oboe, and xun (an egg-shaped Chinese wind instrument). He leads a quartet, whose other members are pianist Barry Harris, Ernie Farrow on bass and rebab, and drummer Lex Humphries.

Lateef’s “jazz roots” were in hard bop, but this album explores a variety of Middle Eastern influences. To some extent that is a reflection on the two tracks based on film scores, both of which are identified as “love themes.” The films are (no surprise) Spartacus and The Robe. Aside from one track for Jimmy McHugh’s “Don’t Blame Me,” the remaining tracks are all Lateef originals.

Prior to my encounter with this release, I was more aware of Lateef’s reputation than I was of the music he actually made; and I am now very glad to have access to an engaging sampling of that music!