LP Review: Yusef Lateef - Live @ Ronnie Scott's

Yusef Lateef (fl/shenai/xun/tenor); Stan Tracey (pno); Rick Laird (bs); Bill Eydon (dms).

(Review by Lance).

Lateef, like Roland Kirk, has often been pigeonholed as a jazz oddity. Personally, I prefer to think of them both as unique voices. Lateef, going by this recording from Ronnie's, was a musician of exceptional depth. Not just as a jazz musician but as a 'World Musician' if the term had been invented 50 years ago. The flute playing is awesome and haunting. Reaching out, searching, almost as if he's on a voyage of discovery, which of course he is. perhaps even more so, on the shenai and the xun - instruments I'd never previously encountered. The final Yusef's Mood brings him back to normality (ish) with some wild tenor that swings without being in any way dated. And, talking about 'swinging' who said that British rhythm sections didn't swing back then? These guys could have made Lawrence Welk swing!

Although the words that follow are from the press release they are a perfect description of what happened on that memorable January evening in 1966 - no bullshit needed for this review - Lance.

"This is a sensational previously unreleased live club performance from Yusef Lateef, the brilliant multi-instrumentalist whose mixing of jazz and Eastern music was a great influence on some of the finest musicians of the era including John Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders.

Accompanied at Ronnie Scott’s by the house band of pianist Stan Tracey, double bassist Rick Laird and drummer Bill Eyden, most of the repertoire played comes from Lateef’s earlier recordings for Savoy and Prestige such as Jazz Moods and Eastern Sounds. Lateef plays flute on The Dreamer and Last Night Blues (it was the last night of the run). He plays the shenai - a kind of oboe - on Blues For The Orient, the xun - a Chinese flute - on Song of Delilah, and tenor saxophone on Yusef’s Mood.

The evening’s performance was recorded by Les Tomkins at the request of Ronnie Scott. The musicians were unaware they were being recorded as Scott believed they would be at their best and most unselfconscious this way."

Tracklisting:
A1.  Angel Eyes (9:19)

A2.  Blues For The Orient (6:51)

A3.  Song Of Delilah (4:41)

B1.  Last Night Blues (9:56)

B2.  Yusef’s Mood (10:44)

Released by Gearbox Records on November 4 on 12" 33rpm vinyl.