Yusef Lateef

Yusef Lateef is one of modern jazz’s earliest cultural ambassadors to Eastern music, as well as one of the exceptional reed players and bandleaders of the post-bop period. Born in 1920 in Detroit, Lateef built up an impressive résumé in his home city before spending time in New York City in the late ’40s and early ’50s playing with Dizzy Gillespie’s Big Band, Lucky Millander, and others. He moved there permanently at the turn of the ’60s, beginning his recording career and playing with Cannonball Adderley, Charles Mingus and other local heavyweights. By this time, the hard-bop icon had begun to incorporate the arghul—an Egyptian reed instrument—and the oboe into his records, alongside his signature tenor saxophone and flute. During the ’60s, Lateef embraced more popular music influences, as well as more reed instruments outside of the Western orchestral family, including the shenai and bamboo flute. He dabbled with soul jazz, fusion and big band music in the following decade before hitting another career high-water mark in 1987, when Yusef Lateef’s Little Symphony—a synth-heavy studio creation featuring Lateef playing every instrument—became a surprise new-age hit. In the final decades of his life, Lateef wrote orchestral works, pursued an academic career and did in-depth research on African music. He passed away from cancer in 2013.