Search - Yusef Lateef :: Eastern Sounds: Rudy Van Gelder Remasters

Pure Jazz Class

GaryBiz | 02/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love This CD!

Yusef Lateef's Talent for Playing Unusual Wind Instruments Really will Romance Your Soul with His Version of "Love Theme From Spartacus"!

This is Indeed a Rare Collector's Item!"

Really, that good.

Chris Wren | Chicago, Illinois | 01/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am outclassed by this record, and for that reason alone, I will have to use context to explain why you must simply have to buy this record.



This record predates me almost twice over and still remains one of the most influential records of my life. When I learned how to play and write music, the melodic inventiveness of jazz became a playful, relentless abyss of knowledge. I was captivated by the technique and improvisation of these prodigies. But this record dropped into my life and, for the first time, everything made sense.



Eastern Sounds, made under the backdrop of recording ballads and exploring Eastern music, never ceases to disappoint me with the choices that are made by each musician. Lex Humphries, a drummer whose adventures in melody ranged from Coltrane to Sa Ra, spills rhythm like an overflown sink. Ernie Farrow muscles through ballads like "Don't Blame Me" effortlessly, reminding the listener that, yes, music is easy for these guys. Meanwhile Barry Harris never stops colouring the melodies with more melodies, unafraid to use the musician's best friend (As my old professor calls her, "Silence") to keep the band together. And Lateef, what to say of his versatility. Even while switching instruments to create drones and polytones off of his band mates, he remains endlessly endearing to the listener. The right balance of experimentation, restraint, and universal appeal.



With all the skill and technique in the world, sometimes a musician has to make the right choices. This is a record overflowing with them, cementing itself as one of my desert island records. Really, it doesn't get much better than this."

World Music in the 1960s

James | Indianapolis, IN United States | 12/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jazz is an ethnic music but not all ethnic music is jazz. Lateef succeeds in uniting the two in "Eastern Sounds" where others fell short. The 1960s decade was crowded with inventive multi instrumental woodwind musicians of note, all of whose music was the precursor of the cross-cultural "World Music" explosion (eg., Oregon, Shadowfax) to follow a decade later. John Coltrane, Roland Kirk, Charles Lloyd, Eric Dolphy, Tony Scott and Yusef Lateef, amoung others, sought inspiration not only from the jazz tradition but folk traditions from around the world. Their most successful albums reinterpret, rather than translate or integrate, the music of exotic locales. "Eastern Sounds" abounds with soulful, luxurious and contemplative sounds. There is even some wonderful swing ( eg., "Snafu"). Surprisingly, Lateef also includes tender readings of two movie love themes, "The Robe" and "Spartacus". This album is THE standard of this genre. You won't be disappointed."