YUSEF LATEEF — The Diverse Yusef Lateef (review)

YUSEF LATEEF — The Diverse Yusef Lateef album cover Album · 1970 · Post Bop Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
dreadpirateroberts
'Diverse' is a fitting title.

Yusef Lateef employs a wide range of styles on this session, from funky soul to hard bop and on to more eastern-influenced moments of what might be called 'world music' which is a fairly useless label, but has some use in conjuring up an idea at least.

Leading with either snappy tenor sax or (for most songs) a wide range of flutes (including bamboo) Lateef blends styles quite effectively. 'Live Humble' is an upbeat opener with a solid groove, courtesy of session drummer Bernard Purdie, and backing vocals by The Sweet Inspirations. It's a fairly direct song and is one of the better on the session. 'A Long Time Ago' has some nice atmosphere but is a little directionless for the most part.

The remaining songs are more pleasing when taken together. 'Eboness' (composed by drummer Roy Brooks) has an almost Latin feel, with the rhythmic piano and Lateef's flute, at times snaky or sharp, other times smooth, showing a pop-influence perhaps. To wrap this fairly short record up (less than 30 minutes long) we have the string quartet backed 'Chandra' an almost sinister track that makes fantastic use of Yusef's flute. It builds quite slowly through some discordant moments with rumbling percussion and gongs, before calming down with the strings and flute having quite a 'film-score' sound. It leaves the listener feeling as though something has been unresolved, keeping you thinking, and is a fitting way to end the set.

This one will certainly be of interest to fans of Yusef, as, even if composition-wise there are stronger moments in his catalogue, it's still a good album, if a little short. The casual jazz listener may not go for this eclectic mix however. Three stars for me.
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