Yusef Lateef
American jazz musician (1920–2013) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Yusef Lateef?
Summarize this article for a 10 years old
Yusef Abdul Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920 – December 23, 2013) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in America.
Yusef Lateef | |
|---|---|
 Lateef in a 2007 performance | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Emanuel Huddleston |
| Also known as | Yusef Lateef |
| Born | (1920-10-09)October 9, 1920 Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | December 23, 2013(2013-12-23) (aged 93) Shutesbury, Massachusetts |
| Genres | New-age, jazz, post-bop, jazz fusion, swing, hard bop, third stream, world music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, educator, spokesman, author |
| Instrument(s) | Tenor saxophone, flute, oboe, bassoon, bamboo flute, shehnai, shofar, arghul, koto, piano, vocals. |
| Years active | 1955–2013 |
| Labels | Savoy, Prestige, Verve, Riverside, Impulse, Atlantic, CTI, YAL |
| Website | yuseflateef |
Although Lateef's main instruments were the tenor saxophone and flute, he also played oboe and bassoon, both rare in jazz, and non-western instruments such as the bamboo flute, shanai, shofar, xun, arghul and koto. He is known for having been an innovator in the blending of jazz with "Eastern" music.[1] Peter Keepnews, in his New York Times obituary of Lateef, wrote that the musician "played world music before world music had a name".[2]
Lateef's books included two novellas titled A Night in the Garden of Love and Another Avenue, the short story collections Spheres and Rain Shapes, and his autobiography, The Gentle Giant, written in collaboration with Herb Boyd.[3] Along with his record label YAL Records, Lateef owned Fana Music, a music publishing company. Lateef published his own work through Fana, which includes Yusef Lateef's Flute Book of the Blues and many of his own orchestral compositions.