Showing posts with label Yusef Lateef. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yusef Lateef. Show all posts

13 January 2014

Yusef Lateef in Europe 1971



To commemorate Yusef Lateef, who died 23. december 2013 at the age of 93, here are three concerts from Europe in 1971. In fact, not only from the same year, but on three consecutive nights! I don't think we have done anything like this on the blog before, so this is a rare opportunity to catch the artist at work over a short, but intense period of time. The first two were in Germany and the last one in the Netherlands. All three were broadcast on radio, taped from there and uploaded to the Dime torrent site.

All solid grooves here and blue notes all around. Nothing to scare the chickens, just persistent, dependable musicianship! To be enjoyed unreservedly!

Yusef Lateef

(1) Bremen, Germany Lila Eule 1971-10-20

01
02 Lowland Lullaby (Albert Heath)
03
 04
 05 band intro
06 -fades out-

min 52:47

 Nordwestradio Globale Dorfmusik Live 2013-01-04

 (2)

Hamburg, Germany October 21, 1971

01. Out Of Nowhere
02. Untitled
03. Habibi
04. Yesterdays/I'll Remember April

 (3)

Davenport Jazz Festival
Restaurant/Zaal Groenendaal,
Doetinchem (The Netherlands) October 22, 1971 "sort of" *RESEED*

01. Broadcast introduction 1 (cut in) (0:51)
02. Yesterdays (Jerome Kern, Otto Harbach) (11:44)
03. I'll Remember April (Don Raye, Gene DePaul, Patricia Johnston) (9:14)
04. Broadcast presentation (0:20)
05. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You (Ned Washington, George Bassman) (13:00)
06. Broadcast presentation (0:18)
07. Broadcast introduction 2 (cut in) (0:07)
08. In The Evening When The Sun Goes Down (Don Raye, LeRoy Carr) (16:01)
09. Broadcast presentation (0:24)
10. Yusef's Mood (Yusef Lateef) (Broadcast outro (17:17)
xx. (title) (not included/broadcasted)
xx. (title) (not included/broadcasted)

Yusef Lateef - flute, oboe, tenorsax
Kenny Barron - piano
Bob Cunningham - bass
Albert 'Tootie' Heath - drums

24 December 2013

YUSEF LATEEF - October 9, 1920 - December 23, 2013 RIP



Sad news - Yusef Lateef has left this plane of being. R.I.P.

Go to his website.

26 October 2009

Yusef Lateef with Roscoe Mitchell, Douglas Ewart and Adam Rudolph - live in Minneapolis 2008



YUSEF LATEEF
ROSCOE MITCHELL
DOUGLAS EWART
ADAM RUDOLPH

Walker Art Center
McGuire Theater
Minneapolis, MN
6 December 2008

Some more Yusef Lateef coming up, but 47 years removed from the previous posting with the Mingus Jazz Workshop at Birdland and in a totally different setting. This is Lateef with percussionist Adam Rudolph, a collaborator over many years. Added is Roscoe Mitchell, saxophonist with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Douglas Ewart, Minneapolis-based multi-instrumentalist and instrument maker, the latter two long-time members of Chicago's famed AACM.

The meeting-up was instigated by Ewart who saw a connection between the AACM's explorations of sound beyond the jazz idiom and Lateef's musical studies of the cultures of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, his fascination for home-made instruments and found objects and his combination of music with poetry and recitations.

For Lateef, jazz is an odious word. "Jazz is defined as doggerel, skullduggery, poppycock, coquetry, sexual intercourse. It has nothing to do with what I do. After I graduated from the Manhattan School of Music I was asked to teach a course in the theory department and I had to name the course, so I called it autophysiopsychic music. It comes from a state of introspection. It means music from the physical, mental, and spiritual self." (from an article by Rick Mason in Minneapolis' City Pages).

Further: The material "will be created at the time," Lateef said. But don't call it improvisation. "That's another term that's used improperly," he said. "When you look at the definition of improvisation, it is to do something without previous preparation. But your whole life is preparation."

As for the AACM, "I hear they're comparable to what I do," Lateef said. According to Rudolph, "Yusef's vision and aesthetic have had an impact on a lot of AACM musicians."

So what we have here is close to two hours of intense autophysiopsychic music from the group of four. Lateef is basically on tenor sax, but also doubles on flute and piano, recites his own poetry and contributes vocals. Mitchell is certainly on alto sax and Rudolph on percussion. Ewart is on soprano, bass clarinet, flute, didgeridoo and all add percussion and small instruments. There is an amazing sax solo section emplying what sounds like circular breathing which might be Ewart, but only listening to the audio, one cannot know for sure.

All in all, an amazing two hours of introspection. Best listened to on earphones and demanding your full attention.


19 October 2009

Yusef Lateef with Mingus at Birdland 1961



Here's one for Doug Schulkind, chum, boundless music enthusiast, radio DJ, miner of the blogosphere with a weekly column on the WFMU blog and, as it happens, an unreserved Yusef Lateef admirer and aficionado. Regular listeners to his weekly radio show on Friday mornings will have noted that the entire three-hour October 9 broadcast was devoted to the music of Yusef Lateef. This show as well as all others are archived on the WFMU site for posterity, so can be listened to at any time from now to eternity (inshallah).

Even three hours can only be a selection, so here's a little something that has never been officially released. This is a part of the set of recordings known as the Birdland Broadcasts 1961-62, on WADO AM, most of them hosted by Symphony Sid, though not this one where the brief announcements are made by Pee Wee Marquette. The sessions were taped by Boris Rose, transferred to acetates and bootlegged on a variety of labels possibly run by Rose.

What's here is the first of seven sessions, comprising approx. three hours in all. This one runs for about 20 minutes and is the only to feature Yusef Lateef (and Roland Kirk!). Three pieces, the last one cut off in mid-flight.

Basic facts:

Charlie Mingus and his Jazz Workshop

Date: October 21, 1961 (live)

Location: Birdland, New York City

Charles Mingus (ldr),
Jimmy Knepper (tb),
Roland Kirk (ts, manzello, stritch),
Yusef Lateef (ts),
Charles Mingus (p),
Doug Watkins (b),
Dannie Richmond (d),
Pee Wee Marquette (mc)

a. [unknown title] 7:12
b. Ecclusiastics (Mingus) 9:15
c. Hog Callin' Blues (incomplete; fade-out) (Mingus) 3:08

The first piece is announced by Mingus as "Blue Cee", though some uncertainty exists whether that is indeed the tune and the final tune did not have a title at the time of the broadcast.

For details, here is a discographical essay:

http://mingus.onttonen.info/birdland.html.

If I'm not totally off the rails, Lateef is taking the third solo on the first two tunes and possibly the lead solo on the final, incomplete one. All classic stuff, needless to say.

Enjoy!