During the last half century, Yusef Lateef has successively reinvented himself as a swing-era tenor, world-music pioneer, and orchestral composer. Now 32 Jazz has reissued the cream of his Atlantic recordings on The Man with the Big Front Yard. This three-disc set offers a superb look at Lateef's quick-change artistry. A cut like "Kongsberg" finds the saxophonist in a hard-bop mood, leading an able quartet through his own gospel-flavored composition. Elsewhere Lateef deploys a bigger, funkier ensemble--indeed, the 1969 sessions originally issued as Yusef Lateef's Detroit feature percolating performances by the likes of pianist Eric Gale and Bernard Purdie. And a delicate arrangement of "Come Sunday," which spotlights the leader's flute alongside Kermit Moore's cello, anticipates the chamber music that this protean artist would produce throughout the 1970s.
The Complete Yusef Lateef
1-1 Rosalie 5:20
1-2 In The Evening 6:37
1-3 Kongsberg 6:09
1-4 Stay With Me 5:20
1-5 See Line Womaan 6:23
1-6 Brother 4:53
1-7 You're Somewhere Thinking Of Me 3:24
Yusef Lateef's Detroit
1-8 Bishop School 3:00
1-9 Livingston Playground 3:37
1-10 Eastern Market 4:15
1-11 Belle Isle 3:12
1-12 Russell And Eliot 4:47
1-13 Raymond Winchester 2:35
1-14 Woodward Avenue 2:11
1-15 That Lucky Old Sun 7:25
Hush 'N' Thunder
2-1 Come Sunday 2:57
2-2 The Hump 4:39
2-3 Opus Pt.I / Opus Pt.II 8:06
2-4 This Old Building 7:57
2-5 Prayer 3:19
2-6 Sunset 7:53
2-7 His Eye Is On The Sparrow 3:32
2-8 Destination Paradise 3:54
The Doctor Is In... And Out
3-1 The Improvisors 7:54
3-2 Hellbound 6:37
3-3 Mystique 7:37
3-4 Mississippi Mud 2:51
3-5 Mushmouth 6:30
3-6 Technological Homosapian 5:16
