The Blue Yusef Lateef

Description

On "The Blue Yusef Lateef" (1968), listeners discover an astonishing chapter from the late 60s, a remarkable period when everything in the jazz world was changing. Lateef was a great proponent of concept albums. This album explores all the different ranges of emotions contained within the blues genre. With a group that included Detroit jazz legends Roy Brooks on drums and Kenny Burrell on guitar, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Hugh Lawson on piano, Sonny Red on alto, Bob Cranshaw on electric bass, and a very young Cecil McBee on acoustic bass, you get the sense that Lateef was searching for something different. Lateef plays not only on his tenor and flute, but also on bamboo and pneumatic flutes, tamboura, koto, and more; Lateef was exploring the boundaries of the blues as they could appear and appeal to both Eastern and Western cultures. The Blue Yusef Lateef is a wild album. In terms of sound, it represents the best of the 60s in terms of experimentation and accessibility. It's blues you can dance to, but also meditate on and marvel at.