Eastern Sounds

Eastern Sounds is a studio album by the jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer Yusef Lateef. It was released in April 1962 through Prestige Records on their Moodsville imprint.^[1] The recording was made in September 1961. The album features Lateef's continued exploration of Middle Eastern music, which were incorporated into his version of hard bop with a quartet featuring Barry Harris on piano. The opening track features Lateef on Chinese globular flute,^[4] generally called xun.^[5] The fusing of musical genres was not a new thing in jazz or for Lateef as his 1957 album Prayer to the East incorporated the shehnai and Middle Eastern influences in playing jazz standards.^[6] In addition to original compositions by Lateef, Eastern Sounds includes covers of themes from the films Spartacus and The Robe, which have been sampled by producers Nujabes and Blockhead, respectively.

Eastern Sounds
Studio album by Yusef Lateef
Released	April 1962 (1962-04)[1]
Recorded	September 5, 1961
Studio	Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Genre	Hard bop
Length	39:54
Label	Moodsville MVLP 22
Producer	Esmond Edwards
Yusef Lateef chronology
Lost in Sound (1961) Eastern Sounds (1962) Into Something (1962)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[3]

Track listing

1. "The Plum Blossom" (Yusef Lateef) – 5:03
2. "Blues for the Orient" (Lateef) – 5:40
3. "Ching Miau" (Lateef) – 3:20
4. "Don't Blame Me" (Jimmy McHugh) – 4:57
5. "Love Theme from Spartacus" (Alex North) – 4:15
6. "Snafu" (Lateef) – 5:42
7. "Purple Flower" (Lateef) – 4:32
8. "Love Theme from The Robe" (Alfred Newman) – 4:02
9. "The Three Faces of Balal" (Lateef) – 2:23

Trivia

Singer-songwriter Cat Stevens was inspired by the melody of the opening track to write his first hit single "I Love My Dog" (1966). Lateef later received credits and royalties for it.^[7]

Personnel

• Yusef Lateef – flute, oboe, tenor saxophone, xun (called "Chinese globular flute" in liner notes)
• Barry Harris – piano
• Ernie Farrow – double bass, Rabaab (called "rabat" in liner notes)
• Lex Humphries – drums

References

1. Ostrow, Marty, ed. (April 21, 1962). "April Album Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. New York: The Cash Box Publishing Co. p. 39. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 2, 2023.
2. Jurek, Thom. Eastern Sounds at AllMusic
3. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 867. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
4. "Jazz Saxo-Flautists article". Allaboutjazz.com. May 17, 2005. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
5. "Naxos". Naxos.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
6. "Boston Phoenix". Archived from the original on 2005-08-28. Retrieved 2006-11-11.
7. "Disc 1". In Search of the Centre of the Universe (booklet). Cat Stevens Box Set. Island Records. 2001. p. 64. 314 85 285-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)