Yusef Lateef Comes to Grace Cathedral

To say that Yusef Lateef has had a remarkable career would be a major understatement. Lateef, who celebrates his 90th birthday this year, was recently honored as a 2010 NEA Jazz Master. On the tenor, flute and oboe he has an inimitable voice, and along with Miles Davis and John Coltrane, he was a trailblazer of modal jazz. Although he had stints with Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderley and Charles Mingus, Lateef has primarily been a leader throughout his career with over 70 innovative albums to his credit. He was one of the first to emerge from mainstream jazz and explore “world” music, on his landmark 1961 Prestige record Eastern Sounds. And he had a great run of classic releases on the Impulse! label from 1964-66. Rather than use the word “jazz,” Lateef prefers to call his music “autophysiopsychic,” meaning, “that which comes from one’s spiritual, physical and emotional self.” And what better place than Grace Cathedral to continue this journey? Providing subtle support will be Yusef’s frequent collaborator, percussionist Adam Rudolph.

Yusef Lateef is a Grammy Award-winning composer, performer, recording artist, author, visual artist, educator and philosopher who has been a major force on the international musical scene for more than six decades. In recognition of his many contributions to the world of music, he has been named an American Jazz Master for the year 2010 by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Still very much active as a touring and recording artist, Yusef Lateef is universally acknowledged as one of the great living masters and innovators in the African American tradition of autophysiopsychic music — that which comes from one’s spiritual, physical and emotional self.

As a virtuoso on a broad spectrum of reed instruments -- tenor saxophone, flute, oboe, bamboo flute, shanai, shofar, argol, sarewa, and taiwan koto — Lateef has introduced delightful new sounds and blends of tone colors to audiences all over the world, and he has incorporated the sounds of many countries into his own music. As a result, he is considered a pioneer in what is known today as “world music.”

As a composer, Lateef has compiled a catalogue of works not only for the quartets and quintets he has led, but for symphony and chamber orchestras, stage bands, small ensembles, vocalists, choruses and solo pianists. His extended works have been performed by the WDR (Cologne), NDR (Hamburg), Atlanta, Augusta and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, the Symphony of the New World, Eternal Wind, the GO Organic Orchestra, and the New Century Players from California Insitute of the Arts. In 1987 he won a Grammy Award for his recording of “Yusef Lateef’s Little Symphony,” on which he performed all the parts. His latest extended works include a woodwind quintet, his Symphony No.2, and a concerto for piano and orchestra.

As an educator, Lateef has devoted much of his life to exploring the methodology of autophysiopsychic music in various cultures and passing what he has learned on to new generations of students. He is an emeritus Five Colleges professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA, from which he was awarded a Ph.D. in Education in 1975. His doctoral dissertation was entitled “An Overview of Western and Islamic Education.” In 2007 he was named University of Massachusetts’ “Artist of the Year.”

As an author, Lateef has published two novellas, “A Night in the Garden of Love” and “Another Avenue;” two collections of short stories, “Spheres” and “Rain Shapes;” and his autobiography, “The Gentle Giant,” written in collaboration with Herb Boyd. In recent years he has also exhibited his paintings at various art galleries.

Lateef was born William Emanuel Huddleston on October 9, 1920 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and moved with his family to Detroit in 1925. In Detroit’s fertile musical environment, Yusef soon established long-standing friendships with such masters of American music as Milt Jackson, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, Paul Chambers, Donald Byrd, the Jones brothers (Hank, Thad and Elvin), Curtis Fuller, Kenny Burrell, Lucky Thompson and Matthew Rucker. He was already proficient on tenor saxophone while in high school, and at the age of 18 began touring professionally with swing bands led by Hartley Toots, Hot Lips Page, Roy Eldridge, Herbie Fields and eventually Lucky Millender. In 1949 he was invited to join the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra.

In 1950 he returned to Detroit, where he began to study composition and flute at Wayne State University, receiving his early training in flute from Larry Teal. He also converted to Islam in the Ahmadiyya movement and took the name Yusef Lateef. From 1955–1959 he led a quintet including Curtis Fuller, Hugh Lawson, Louis Hayes and Ernie Farrell. In 1958 he began studying oboe with Ronald Odemark of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Returning to New York in 1960, Lateef undertook further studies in flute with Harold Jones and John Wummer at the Manhattan School of Music, from which he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Music in 1969 and his Master’s Degree in Music Education in 1970. Later, as a member of the school’s theory department in 1971, he taught courses in autophysiopsychic music. From 1972–1976, he was an associate professor of music at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Yusef first began recording under his own name in 1956 for Savoy Records, and has since made more than 100 recordings as a leader for the Savoy, Prestige, Contemporary, Impulse, Atlantic and YAL labels. His early recordings of such songs as “Love Theme from Spartacus” and “Morning” continue to receive extensive airplay even today. He also toured and recorded with the ensembles of Charles Mingus, Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Babatunde Olatunji in the 1960s.

As an instrumentalist with his own ensemble, Lateef has performed extensively in concert halls and at colleges and music festivals throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Russia, Japan and Africa, often conducting master classes and symposia in conjunction with his performances. Dating from the release of the double CD “Influence” with the Belmondo Brothers in 2005, his engagements at international music festivals have increased significantly. Over the years his touring ensembles have included such master musicians as Barry Harris, Kenny Barron, Hugh Lawson, Albert Heath, Roy Brooks, Ernie Farrell, Cecil McBee, Bob Cunningham, Adam Rudolph, Charles Moore, Ralph Jones and Frederico Ramos as well as the Lionel and Stéphane Belmondo.

Lateef’s first major work for large orchestra was his Blues Suite, also known as “Suite 16,” premiered in 1969 by the Augusta, GA Symphony Orchestra, performed in 1970 with his hometown Detroit Symphony Orchestra at the Meadowbrook Music Festival, and recorded by the WDR Orchestra in Cologne. In 1974 the NDR Radio Orchestra of Hamburg commissioned him to compose and perform the tone poem “Lalit,” and he later premiered and recorded his Symphony No.1 (Tahira) with the same orchestra.

From August 1981 until August 1985, Lateef was a senior research Fellow at the Center for Nigerian Cultural Studies at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria, where he did research into the Fulani flute. Sarewa is the generic name for the Fulani flute.

In 1992 Lateef formed his own label, YAL Records, to record and distribute his works and those of other artists including the Eternal Wind Quintet. One of his first recordings on the label, co-composed with percussionist Adam Rudolph, was “The World at Peace,” an extended suite requiring 12 musicians including Eternal Wind, which has received repeated performances throughout the United States.

In 1993 the WDR Orchestra producer Ulrich Kurtz commissioned Lateef’s most ambitious work to date, The African American Epic Suite, a four-movement work for quintet and orchestra representing 400 years of slavery and disfranchisement of African Americans in America. David de Villiers conducted the premiere performance and recording with the WDR Orchestra. The suite has also been performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Yoel Levi as a centerpiece of the National Black Arts Festival in 1998 and by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Wilkins in 2001.

Through his publishing company, Fana Music, Lateef has contributed extensively to the lexicon of performance and improvisational methodology with such works as “Yusef Lateef’s Flute Book of the Blues,” “A Repository of Melodic Scales and Patterns,” and “123 Duets for Treble Clef Instruments.” Fana has also published numerous works for chamber ensembles, stage bands, duos and wind ensemble or symphony orchestra.

Special note: "Grace Cathedral’s soaring vault produces a natural, seven-second reverberation. This effect, different from typical concert hall acoustics, will be an integral component of this performance. Yusef Lateef’s appearance does in no way imply that he endorses the name or names of any producer of alcoholic substances or pork products."

Yusef Lateef with Adam Rudolph
Friday, October 22, 8:00 PM at Grace Cathedral

Gary Husband's "Dirty & Beautiful, Volume 1"

Over the course of a remarkable, still-unfolding career, Gary Husband has defined himself as the ultimate musician’s musician: a fiery, perceptive presence who elevates every scenario – from the tightly arranged to pure, open-ended improvisation. Whether focusing on his intricate, propulsive drumming or unleashing his nimble, harmonically astute keyboard abilities, Husband never fails to make his presence felt, while always remaining sympathetic to his fellow musicians and to the composition at hand. His vast range of experience allows him to balance the technical and the intuitive with rare grace, earning him the opportunity to perform and record alongside such maverick, inventive talents as John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck, Allan Holdsworth, Jack Bruce, Mike Stern, Robin Trower, Billy Cobham, Gary Moore, Level 42, Andy Summers, and many, many more.

In addition to his prolific career as a sideman, the British-born Husband has recorded seven of his own albums, featuring his multi-instrumental, compositional, and bandleading skills in an array of contexts. He is now poised to release his most ambitious project yet, the two-volume Dirty & Beautiful, volume one of which is to be made available by Abstract Logix on November 16, 2010, with volume two to follow in Spring of 2011. A visionary exercise years in the making, recorded in studios around the world, Dirty & Beautiful Volume One is a riveting showcase for the many gleaming facets of Husband’s musical imagination, featuring an enviable cast of supporting musicians, among them John McLaughlin, Allan Holdsworth, Robin Trower, Steve Hackett (Genesis), Jerry Goodman (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Jimmy Herring (Widespread Panic, the Dead, Allman Brothers Band), Jan Hammer (Mahavishnu Orchestra and Miami Vice TV series soundtrack), Mark King (Level 42), and more.

“I feel this album to be rich, full of extremes, and passionate,” Husband reflects. “It’s not at all my first album, but it feels a little like a debut album, in that it heralds a return to my jazz/rock roots.” The album’s title hints at the unique co-existence that defines his music: for all its sophistication, technique, and facility, there is an underlying grit and intensity that somehow only enhances the luminous beauty at the core of these performances. “If I think about what it actually is to play – what the feeling is in what I chase – there’s a quest for a profound beauty there, certainly. But it can’t really be whole, to me, without the grunge, and the dirt. Like picking a fresh raspberry in the woods and eating it.”

From brief, meditative keyboard soundscapes like “Afterglow” and “Swell” to intense, full-bore fusion workouts, Dirty & Beautiful includes newly-written and older Husband compositions alongside material from Holdsworth, guitarist Steve Topping, and formative classics by Jan Hammer and Miles Davis. Throughout, Husband performs all the drums and – save for a guest spot by Hammer on the opening “Leave ‘Em On” – all the album’s keyboards. “The duality between drums and keyboards is like second nature to me,” he explains. “I’ve always been involved with the two instruments to the same degree. It’s never been one over the other, and what I do with both tools makes up my complete realm of expression. If I’m playing drums along with a previously recorded track on keyboards or vice versa there’s an instinctive sort of inner trust I detect, follow and settle with very quickly. I know it probably sounds like a pretty crazy method, but it all seems to figure out in the way that I feel it and approach it in a very natural way.”

Of late, Husband has been most visible as a member (on both keys and occasional drums) of John McLaughlin’s current performing/recording ensemble the 4th Dimension and through his longstanding work with various groups lead by Allan Holdsworth. Both guitarists – each an iconic figure who have had an immense influence on nearly every element of contemporary hybrid musics – contribute to Dirty & Beautiful, marking the first time they have appeared on the same project. McLaughlin’s extraordinary solo on “Dreams in Blue” is exploratory and organic, moving from more expansive quiet statements to raging, brisk passages underpinned by Husband’s furious, skittering drums. Husband follows McLaughlin’s statement with a hushed acoustic piano solo that builds to a dizzying peak, allowing brief spotlights for guitar and bass to lead back into the restatement of the theme. Holdsworth contributes guitar to his own composition “Leave ‘Em On,” a longtime staple of his trio’s live sets that has remained unrecorded until now. A subtle, deceptively gentle performance, Holdsworth is heard at his most evocative and probing, hanging long sustained notes over Husband’s active percussion, Jan Hammer’s glimmering keyboards, and the solid foundation of bassist Jimmy Johnson.

Holdsworth, Johnson, and Husband reconvene as a trio to perform Husband’s haunting, disorienting “Boulevard Baloneyo,” fittingly, as the song is based on their misadventures while on tour. “It depicts one of the journeys we did that I sort of deliberately ‘surrealised,’” says Husband, laughing, “in tune with this constantly overtired disposition and frazzled state of mind we were all experiencing, brought about by jet lag and a rather exhausting tour schedule. Allan and Jimmy were marvellous on it, and I was really delighted with what we got. None of it is altered, edited or features any overdubs of any kind. With the exception of the front synth melody, the opening and closing GPS machine announcements, it’s all just exactly as it happened on the day, live, in the studio.”

Despite its kaleidoscopic range of styles, textures, and grooves – not to mention the various globe-spanning locales in which it was recorded – this first instalment of Dirty & Beautiful is powerfully coherent, thanks to both the consistent quality of its contributors and to Husband’s careful curatorial instinct. “As with any album I make,” he explains, “I concerned myself directly with the overall curve of the record – the journey it presents, how it travels from track to track, and the overall coherency. But, as I strongly hoped for since the beginning, and in spite of the fact there are a lot of artists from very different realms here, there is a definite, very particular kind of coherency going on through the several different lineups just doing what we do together – everything and everyone towards the same cause. The whole thing plays as I’d hoped – as one message, with everyone concerned conveying the same level of commitment, energy and heart from track to track through their performances. After all, the artists involved here are all so great, a lot of factors kind of end up taking care of themselves anyway!”

From Robin Trower’s churning, wailing post-Hendrix guitar on the brief visit to Miles Davis’s “Yesternow”, to Steve Hackett’s stirring interpretation of the wistful “Moon Song” through to Mark King’s slithering bass on the refracted second-line funk of the closing “Alverstone Jam,” Dirty & Beautiful Volume One is an explosive, evocative celebration of the of the mutual respect between Husband and his collaborators, and instantly heightens the anticipation for the second volume. “It’s predominantly a record just about playing the kind of material I feel like playing right now with people, friends, and musical colleagues that I feel like playing with,” Husband concludes. “In a big way, it also documents my perpetual activity as a touring musician. This album is what my diary frequently looks like and it portrays very much the fulfilment I experience playing with all of these various people on a pretty consistent basis, in the many and various musical worlds and situations that I do or have done. It’s got my stamp on it, but we all speak and tune in to basically the same common language. Friendship binds it. Respect and harmony are also elements that bind it. There is the fact that I know most of these gentlemen extremely well and feel a deeply special closeness and bond with them as individuals and musicians. That binds it in an ultimate way for me.”

Wilbur Rehmann's "Old Friends and New"

It's no secret that saxophonist and longtime friend Wilbur Rehmann is one of my favorite musicians. No small wonder, as Rehmann draws much of his inspiration from none other than the great Sonny Rollins. I've had the privilege of performing with Rehmann during his annual sojourns to San Francisco, most recently at the Fillmore Jazz Heritage Center last August. Now, after a 10 year recording hiatus, ("Back Home Jazz" in 1996, and Mann Gulch Suite in 1999), Rehmann returns with what must be considered his best effort to date with "Old Friends and New". Rejoining Rehmann are two of his longtime collaborators, the incredible father and son duo of Blackie and Ken Nelson, as well as the rhythm section of bassist Rennan Rieke and drummer Jeremy Slead. This is the Wilbur Rehmann Quintet at its finest, and well worth the wait.

I consider Rehmann and the elder Nelson, two of the "Deans of Montana Jazz", so it seemed fitting to quote someone who knows their work back in Helena. The jazz writer Mariss McTucker accurately summed up Rehmann's latest effort in a recent column for Montana's "Lively Times". McTucker writes, "There sure is a lot of good jazz being played in the Treasure State. The latest nugget of proof is the Wilbur Rehmann Quintet’s third CD. The talented Helena saxman joins forces with “the elder statesman of Montana jazz,” Blackie Nelson, on guitar; Blackie’s son, Ken Nelson, keyboards; Rennan Rieke, acoustic bass; and Jeremy Slead, drums and hand percussion. The group is joined by young Sarah Dramstad, playing tenor sax on two numbers.

Drumlummon Institute in Helena, which is dedicated to publishing and producing art created in Montana and the American West, co-produced the album. Executive director Rick Newby pays tribute to the quintet’s contributions to Montana jazz culture, including its nurturing of young musicians. “They grace our lives with their extraordinary musicianship, big hearts, and public spiritedness,” he notes.

In his intro, Rehmann says when they play, “The ideas come from us but they go out to you. This great conversation uses jazz as the language; we speak musically to each other and simultaneously to our wonderful audiences.” And do they ever. They bring up the big guns at the outset, cookin’ and honkin’ on the opener, Rehmann’s own “Sittin’ Here (Thinking About You).”

The bluesy “Beatrice,” by Sam Rivers, is next, with its cool, sleepy guitar and smooth and bending sax lead. You can’t hear Rehmann take a breath. What control! Pat Metheny’s extended piece, “Hermitage,” follows, with its bossa-nova feel. Lots of elongated melodic strains, lightly-tripping piano, and crackling drum work; everybody gets to stretch out here. I envision palm trees and a cool breeze on this one.

Michael Brecker’s “Midnight Voyage” is sultry and moody; and Blackie Nelson contributes a spirited new song with a big band feel for his wife Isabel, called “Isabop.” Dueting saxophones highlight Horace Silver’s “Señor Blues.” It’s way cool, with Rehmann and Dramstad spinning silk on the harmony leads, and Ken Nelson answering with some syncopated piano work. Nice balance!

The finale, Metheny’s “James,” whoops it up with rolling drums and Rehmann squeakin’ and wailin’ on those dizzying lead lines. Raucous! Everyone gets to take the limelight on the album, and deservedly so. The album was recorded at St. Paul’s Methodist Church Sanctuary and superb sound engineering by Ken Nelson at Cottage Recording in Helena provides the icing on the cake. The album is a visual treat too, with its cover sporting a lush Montana landscape by painter Dale Livezey."

I couldn't have said it any better than McTucker did, however I will add this; like a fine wine, Rehmann and the elder Nelson keep getting better with age. I also couldn't have picked a better bassist than Rieke, to liberate the disgustingly, multi-talented Ken Nelson from his double bass duties to play keyboards. As for Slead, what else can I say? He not only admirably holds down the groove, but even dabbles in electronic percussion, something readers of Beyond Chron know is near and dear to my heart.

There is nothing old about Rehmann and his quintet's new interpretations of some great classics by Rivers, Matheny, Brecker and Silver. This is a passionate outing by two genuine jazz veterans and the joy of playing with their family and indeed, new friends.

Bravo Wilbur, this is the best one yet.

Sarah Wilson's "Trapeze Project"

In the past few years, Wilson’s original work has premiered internationally and nationally at highly acclaimed venues such as the Willisau Jazz Festival, Switzerland, NYC Central Park's Summerstage, the deYoung Museum in SF, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival and the Festival of New Trumpet Music in NYC. Wilson’s new record label, Brass Tonic Records celebrates the release of her 2010 CD, Trapeze Project with Wilson (trumpet/vocals), Myra Melford (piano), Ben Goldberg (clarinet), Jerome Harris (bass) and Scott Amendola (drums). Fresh from over a decade-long stint in NYC as an active fixture in the downtown jazz world, Wilson exploded back on her native SF Bay Area music scene winning critical acclaim for her 2006 CD, Music for an Imaginary Play. The CD garnered a Best in 2006 Bay Area Jazz CDs highlight from the music critic Andrew Gilbert. Her music has also received esteemed national accolades from the New York Times, Time Out New York, San Francisco Chronicle and Cadence Magazine.

In 2009, Wilson was awarded three composing commissions from the Zellerbach Family Foundation and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, East Bay Fund for Artists, deYoung Museum Cultural Encounters Initiative in collaboration with Intersection for the Arts. Meet the Composer's MetLife Creative Connections program has also funded her work. Wilson also wrote a commission for Kenny Wollesen as part of a 2008 Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art residency.

Wilson's music has evolved through a diverse experience with jazz, theater, film, animation, performance art and traditional music studies. In the early 90's, she served as Musical Director for Bread and Puppet Theater in VT with extensive international touring, collaborated for six years with Lincoln Center for the Arts writing music for annual puppet theater productions funded by Meet the Composer, and scored a film in the “Body Art” exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC.

Raised in Healdsburg, CA, Wilson received a BA in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. Through a private mentorship with Schoenberg scholar Paul Caputo, she obtained a BA in music from Empire State College, NY. Wilson has studied extensively with trumpeters John McNeil and Laurie Frink. Wilson has also received funding from the McCord Foundation, Irene Diamond Foundation and was a 2010 Djerassi Resident Artist.

Wilson's latest features some truly great musicians, including one of my personal favorites, local drummer Scott Amendola. The gorgeous tones of Goldberg's clarinet paired with Harris' bass and Melford's piano is a delight. Wilson also brings out some of her best writing and vocal performances on this CD. There is a softness about this album, but don't be fooled by it. Wilson swings with the best of them and her trumpet playing is both delicate and brassy. "Himalayas" is one of my favorites; thoughtful, energetic and indicative of Wilson's talent and the wonderful flavor of this entire album. There have been some great jazz albums by Bay Area women this year, Wilson's "Trapeze Project" must be counted among them.