david weiss Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 A great musician of course and a truly beautiful soul...... And if you have doubts don't blame me, blame Sonny Rollins.... https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Official-Sonny-Rollins-Page/108462262530510?ref=stream Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 Oh no! Rest in Peace Bill, Gentle Joseph! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Schwartz Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 Preparing for my next on-air shift which falls on Christmas....holiday tunes and farewell to a number of great musicians that passed this year including now Yusef Lateef. RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 Oh dammit no... no, no, no! This is too sad. I love Lateef's music, have done so since my early teens ... glad I saw him live, at least once. r.i.p. - eternal thanks for the great music Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesoul Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 https://twitter.com/blogsupreme/status/415263663751061504 Per NPR, Yusef Lateef's niece confirmed this sad news. RIP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 http://www.gazettenet.com/home/9933070-95/yusef-lateef-grammy-winning-musician-composer-dies-at-93 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 So long to one of the best tenor sounds ever, and to the man who understood what it took of both him and his instrument to make it. Too much given for this to be called a "loss", it's our gain, but still...sad to think that there will be nothing new coming form him who was always looking at the new, and finding it. Much love, much thanks, and now, rest in peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Reynolds Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 RIP, Sir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 (edited) Lateef's playing wasn't really my cup of tea, but this is sad news. Edited December 23, 2013 by J.A.W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fasstrack Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 Ugh. What a year. Still, 93 years is a nice long run. I loved his playing and met him twice-a truly humble and beautiful man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 Lateef's playing wasn't really my cup of tea, but this is sad news. You need a new cup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 The man lived a long time. RIP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 Lateef's playing wasn't really my cup of tea, but this is sad news. You need a new cup I'm afraid that won't do the trick I've tried since the 1960s and it never really worked for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 (edited) Lateef's playing wasn't really my cup of tea, but this is sad news. You need a new cup I'm afraid that won't do the trick I've tried since the 1960s and it never really worked for me. Hard for me to wrap around my mind about that ... his playing is very touching and direct to me. Straight to the heart of it (and of me, too). But vive la différence and all that ... Edited December 24, 2013 by king ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 Lateef's playing wasn't really my cup of tea, but this is sad news. You need a new cup I'm afraid that won't do the trick I've tried since the 1960s and it never really worked for me. Hard for me to wrap around my mind about that ... his playing is very touching and direct to me. Straight to the heart of it (and of me, too). But vive la différence and all that ... The main reason is that I really dislike his saxophone tone, but I'm not too fond of his playing on other instruments either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 Yes, RIP. The hip priest (imam?) of eclecticism. There was no one like him in jazz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 He always seemed the essence of cool to me, and he made jazz look like an adventurous and fascinating trip (which it is). From what I can tell, many others felt the same way. Thanks and RIP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElginThompson Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 I guess "liking" a tone is subjective, but objectively, you'd be hard pressed to find anybody who had more control over the sonics of the tenor. All the manipulations he'd do to notes, the tone stayed perfectly centered, the pitch totally true (even on the "in between" notes. A lot of people did "those things", but I'll be damned if I can think of anybody who did all of them that well. Nothing, and I mean, nothing, happened in his sound unless he put it there. Ask any tenor player who the master of open side key fingerings is, and if they don't say Yusef Lateef, they're either being silly or else just don't know any better. Those notes are supposed to sound "different" than regular fingerings, but Lateef made them sound different in color only. Most guys, there's a change in pitch, or density of tone, or direction of the sound column, something. Not Lateef. He could play the tenor like it had a slide on it, and in pretty much any register using pretty much any set of fingerings. And with a big, fat, full sound that came from the body, not the equipment. Subjectivities aside, when it comes down to the physics of the tenor, the guy was a true giant. He did well on oboe & flute, but that tenor, yeah, as far as the science of the tenor goes, this guy was at the top of the pyramid. I get that there's individual taste that comes into play, but past that, there is objective mastery of a certain approach to an instrument, and by that set of criteria, Yusef Lateef was an unquestionable master. Let there be no disputing that part of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Schwartz Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 I've always loved his flute playing..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 (edited) Thanks for that perspective as a saxophonist Jim. I've always felt Lateef was a master, and always loved his sound and the fluidity of his ideas and tone. I remember first hearing him: I bought a Charlie Parker lp on Charlie Parker records, only it wasn't Charlie Parker on the grooves, even though each side's label said it was. It took me some time back then to discover that it was really Yusef Lateef's Charlie Parker Records album, and I found that by picking up one of his Savoy sides and recognizing that sound, then seeking out all the other Savoys, Riversides, Impulse, Atlantic. . .I grabbed a lot of Lateef and I still cherish them. Reading of his death I was thinking of "Lover Man" on Savoy's "Prayer to the East" LP. Just six and a half minutes of some of the best tenor playing I've ever heard. Edited December 24, 2013 by jazzbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 He is one of only a few artists whose LPs I will always buy when I stumble across them. RIP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardbopjazz Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 Wow, what a major loss. RIP Mr. Lateef. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffcrom Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 Sigh.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 RIP. To my knowledge, he introduced to America one of my favorites, pianist Mike Nock. I'll have to pull out my Live at Pep's CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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