Search - Yusef Lateef :: Little Symphony

Yuseff all-solo

Phasedin | New Jersey | 12/13/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a sucker for the one-man solo project, especially when the musician involved overdubs multiple parts. You know that every note, every sound, every solo heard on the recording is exactly what the musician intended, what was in his mind at the time of the sessions. I'm not aware of Lateef doing another one of these, and i'm no expert/historian on Lateef (I only own maybe a half-dozen of his albums from the 50's to the 80's), but this is my favorite one of all.
This was recorded in 1987 and Lateef overdubs multiple wind instruments as well as using a keyboard synthesizer, so there's quite a nice variety of sound here for a one-man project (especially from a jazz musician, too many of whom often stick to a single instrument for the entire length of an individual recording).
Naturally at this point, Lateef was pretty far away from the jazz mainstream. But for me, this is where his most interesting work exists, it's all Lateef, his vision, his composing.
This work, although very short (only 33:29)is comprised of 4 movements.
If you can't appreciate some of the electronic synthesizer textures and only want to hear Lateef in a more mainstrem jazz setting, this probably isn't for you. But for me, I sure wish Lateef would record more often in this all-solo, all-original format. This is the one Lateef CD i'd keep if I could only have one."