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Biography
Infobox musical artist| name = Yusef Lateef| image = Yusef Lateef.jpg| caption = Photo by Tom Beetz.| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist| birth_name = William Emanuel Huddleston| alias =| Born = Birth date and age|1920|10|9 Chattanooga, Tennessee|Chattanooga , Tennessee United States | death_date =| instrument = Tenor saxophone , flute , oboe , bassoon , bamboo flute , shehnai , shofar , arghul , koto (musical instrument)|koto | genre = New Age music , jazz , jazz fusion , Swing (genre)|swing , autophysiopsychic music | occupation = Musician , author | years_active = 1957–present| label = Savoy Records|Savoy , Prestige Records|Prestige , Verve Records|Verve , Riverside Records|Riverside , Impulse Records|Impulse , Atlantic Records|Atlantic , CTI Records|CTI , YAL Records| associated_acts = Cannonball Adderley , Elvin Jones , Adam Rudolph | website =| notable_instruments = Yusef Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston ; October 9, 1920) is an American Grammy Award -winning jazz multi-instrumentalist , composer , Music education|educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950. Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute , he is known for his innovative blending of jazz with ' Eastern world|Eastern ' music. In addition to the oboe and bassoon , both rare in jazz, Lateef plays various world music instruments, notably the bamboo flute , shanai , shofar , arghul , sarewa, and koto (musical instrument)|koto .
Biography
Early life and career
Lateef was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee , but his family moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1925.
Throughout his early life Lateef came into contact with many Detroit-based jazz musicians who would gain prominence, including vibraphonist Milt Jackson , bassist Paul Chambers , drummer Elvin Jones , and guitarist Kenny Burrell . Lateef was a proficient saxophonist by the time of his graduation from high school at age 18, at which point he launched his professional career and began touring with a number of Swing (genre)|swing bands.
In 1949, Lateef was invited by Dizzy Gillespie to tour with his orchestra. At this time, Lateef was known by the name William Evans, thereby making him one of three well-known jazz musicians besides Bill Evans the pianist and Bill Evans (saxophonist)|Bill Evans the tenor saxophonist bearing the same surname.
In 1950, Lateef returned to Detroit and began his studies in musical composition|composition and flute at Wayne State University . It was during this period that Lateef converted to Islam as a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community .
Prominence
Lateef began recording as a leader in 1957 for Savoy Records , a non-exclusive association which continued until 1959; the earliest of Lateef's album's for the Prestige Records|Prestige subsidiary New Jazz overlap with them. Musicians such as Wilbur Harden and Hugh Lawson (jazz pianist)|Hugh Lawson were among his collaborators during this period.
By 1961, with the recording of Into Something and Eastern Sounds , Lateef's dominant presence within a group context had emerged. His 'Eastern' influences are clearly audible in all of these recordings, with spots for instruments like the rahab , shanai , arghul , koto (musical instrument)|koto and a collection of Chinese flutes|Chinese wooden flutes and Chinese bell|bells along with his tenor and flute. Even his use of the western oboe sounds exotic in this context; it is not a standard jazz instrument. Indeed the tunes themselves are a mixture of jazz standards, blues and film music usually performed with a piano/bass/drums rhythm section in support. Along with trumpeter Don Cherry (jazz)|Don Cherry , Lateef can lay claim to being among the first exponents of the world music as List of jazz genres|subgenres of jazz . Lateef also made numerous contributions to other people's albums including his time as a member of saxophonist Cannonball Adderley|Cannonball Adderley's Quintet during 1962-64.
Lateef's sound has been claimed to have been a major influence on the saxophonist John Coltrane , whose later period free jazz recordings contain similarly 'Eastern' traits. For a time (1963–66) Lateef was signed to Coltrane's label, Impulse Records|Impulse . He had a regular working group during this period, with trumpeter Richard Williams (trumpeter)|Richard Williams and Mike Nock on piano. They enjoyed a residency at Pep's Lounge, Philadelphia|Pep's Lounge during June 1964; an evening of which was issued across several albums.
In the late 1960s he began to incorporate contemporary soul music|soul and gospel music|gospel phrasing into his music, still with a strong blues underlay, on albums such as Detroit and ''Hush'n'Thunder .
Lateef has expressed a dislike of the terms "jazz" and "jazz musician" as musical generalizations. As is so often the case with such generalizations, the use of these terms do understate the breadth of his sound. For example, in the 1980s, Lateef experimented with New Age music|new age and spiritual elements. His 1987 album '' Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony '' won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album.cite book|url= http://books.google.com.br/books? id=jrsDAAAAMBAJ& pg=PA52& lpg=PA52& dq=Yusef+Lateef's+Little+Symphony+won+the+Grammy+award+for+Best+New+Age+Album& source=bl& ots=H_lXlhUjT-& sig=FbZTTGrEau0ndt4Kp2bvSDuH26I& hl=pt-BR& ei=NerbTMuuJcqs8AaHg_mVCQ& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=8& ved=0CD4Q6AEwBw#v=onepage& q& f=false|title= Lateef Wins Grammy Award For Best New Age Album in 1987 |publisher=books.google.com.br|accessdate=2010-11-11 His core influences, however, are clearly rooted in jazz, and in his own words: "My music is jazz." http://www.jazzweekly.com/interviews/Ylateef.htm A Fireside Chat With Yusef Lateef
In 1992, Lateef founded YAL Records , his own label for which he records today. In 1993, Lateef was commissioned by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk|WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne to compose The African American Epic Suite , a four part work for orchestra and quartet based on themes of slavery and disfranchisement in the United States. The piece has since been performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra .
Education and teaching
In 1960, Lateef again returned to school, studying flute at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City|New York . He received a Bachelor's Degree in Music in 1969 and a Master's Degree in Music Education in 1970. Starting in 1971, he taught courses in Yusef Lateef#Autophysiopsychic Music|autophysiopsychic music at the Manhattan School of Music, and he became an associate professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in 1972.
In 1975, Lateef completed his dissertation on Western and Islamic education and earned a Ed.D. in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst .
In the early 1980s Lateef was a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Nigerian Cultural Studies at Ahmadu Bello University in the city of Zaria, Nigeria. Returning to the US in 1986 he took teaching positions at the University of Massachusetts and Amherst College. Presently, he continues to teach at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Hampshire College in western Massachusetts.
Lateef has written and published a number of books including two novella s entitled A Night in the Garden of Love and Another Avenue , the short story collections Spheres and Rain Shapes , also his autobiography, The Gentle Giant, written in collaboration with Herb Boyd .cite web|url= http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Yusef_Lateef_Comes_to_Grace_Cathedral_8615.html|title= Yusef Lateef Comes to Grace Cathedral |publisher=Beyondchron.org|accessdate=2010-11-11
Along with his record label YAL Records, Lateef owns Fana Music , a music publishing company. Lateef publishes his own work through Fana, which includes '' Yusef Lateef's Flute Book of the Blues and many of his own orchestral compositions.
Autophysiopsychic Music, Lateef's term, refers to music which comes from one's physical, mental, and spiritual self. Lateef has written extensively on the topic and includes it in his book Method To Perform Autophsyiopsychic Music . In this view, it should be the goal of every musician to combine their theoretical knowledge with their life experience, and to offer to and accept knowledge from their personal source of strength, inspiration and knowledge.
Yusef's teaching of this music is very simple. It strays from what has become the standard dorian mode|dorian scale over the two chord, mixolydian mode|mixolydian over the five, and ionian mode|ionian over the one chord. You learn what works for you, and you embellish those notes.citation needed|date=December 2010
Awards and honors
In 2010 he received lifetime the Jazz Master Fellowship Award from National Endowment for the Arts|NEA , National Endowment for the Arts which is an independent federal agency.cite web|url= http://arts.endow.gov/honors/jazz/jmCMS/master.php? id=2010_06& type=bio|title= Lateef Being Honored With Jazz Master Fellowship Award in 2010 |publisher=Arts.endow.gov|accessdate=2010-11-10
National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters is the highest honor given in Jazz established in 1982.cite web|url= http://arts.endow.gov/honors/jazz/jmCMS/JMbyYear.php|title= Jazz Master Fellowship Award Winners Through 1982-2011 |publisher=Arts.endow.gov|accessdate=2010-11-10
WGBH (FM)|WGBH Jazz , a popular public radio from Boston, Massachusetts , aired a special-documentary program for Lateef, titled A portrait of saxophonist Yusef Lateef in his own words and music .cite web|url= http://mediaplayer.wgbh.org/? xml=specials/jzpt/lateef_yusef.xml& resize=1|title= A portrait of saxophonist Yusef Lateef in his Own Words And Music |publisher=wgbh.org|accessdate=2010-11-10
Double Time (Leon Redbone album)|Double Time on the track "Mississippi Delta Blues" (1976; Warner Bros. Records )
References
Reflist
External links
commons
http://www.yuseflateef.com/ Official website of Yusef Lateef
Allmusic|id=p39968
http://www.billboard.com/artist/yusef-lateef/discography/albums/32479#/artist/yusef-lateef/discography/albums/32479 Billboard Discography - Billboard's complete discography of Yusef Lateef
http://streams.wgbh.org/online/play.php? xml=specials/jzpt/lateef_yusef.xml& template=wgbh_audio Jazz Portraits from the WGBH Archives: Yusef Lateef a radio documentary from http://www.wgbh.org/jazz WGBH Radio Boston
Persondata|NAME=Lateef, Yusef |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Lateef, Dr. Yusef; Huddleston, William Emanuel |SHORT DESCRIPTION=American jazz musician |DATE OF BIRTH=October 9, 1920 |PLACE OF BIRTH= Chattanooga, Tennessee |DATE OF DEATH= |PLACE OF DEATH= DEFAULTSORT:Lateef, Yusef Category:Avant-garde jazz musicians Category:American Ahmadis Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American jazz composers Category:American jazz flautists Category:American jazz tenor saxophonists Category:American jazz oboists Category:Hard bop oboists Category:Hard bop flautists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni Category:Manhattan School of Music alumni Category:Musicians from Detroit, Michigan Category:Wayne State University alumni Category:African American musicians Category:Savoy Records artists Category:Impulse& #33; Records artists Category:Riverside Records artists Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:African American Muslims Category:1920 births Category:Living people Category:Converts to Islam
