Yusef Lateef - 1972 - The Gentle Giant

Yusef Lateef 

1972

The Gentle Giant

01. Nubian Lady

02. Lowland Lullabye

03. Hey Jude

04. Plum

05. The Poor Fisherman

06. African Song

07. Queen Of The Night

08. Below Yellow Bell

Bass – Bob Cunningham (tracks: A1, B1, B3, B5)

Bass – Chuck Rainey (tracks: A3, B4)

Bass – Sam Jones (tracks: A1, B1, B3, B5)

Cello – Kermit Moore (tracks: A2)

Drums – Kuumba "Tootie" Heath (tracks: A1, B1, B3, B5)

Drums – Jimmy Johnson (tracks: A3, B4)

Electric Bass – Bill Salter (tracks: A1, B1, B3, B5)

Flute – Kuumba "Tootie" Heath (tracks: A2, B2)

Flute, Oboe, Tenor Saxophone – Yusef Lateef

Guitar – Eric Gale (tracks: A3, B4)

Percussion [African] – Ladzi Cammera (tracks: A1, B1, B3, B5)

Piano – Kenneth Baron (tracks: A1, B1, B3, B5)

Piano – Ray Bryant (tracks: A1, B1, B3, B5)

Vibraphone, Chimes – Neal Boyer (tracks: A3)

Yusef Lateef's music from the early '70s commands large doses of both appeal and skepticism. At a time when funk and fusion were merging with the intensely volatile and distrustful mood of the U.S., Lateef's brand of Detroit soul garnered new fans, and turned away those who preferred his earlier hard bop jazz or world music innovations. Thus The Gentle Giant is an appropriate title, as Lateef's levitational flute looms large over the rhythm & blues beats central to the equation. Kenny Barron's Fender Rhodes electric piano is also a sign of the times, an entry point introducing him to the contemporary jazz scene, and on that point alone is historically relevant. The post-Bitches Brew, pre-Weather Report/Headhunters time period is to be considered, and how this music put Lateef in many respects to the forefront of the movement. While inconsistent and at times uneven, there's more to praise than damn in the grooves and unique musicianship he offers with this small ensemble of focused and singular-minded players. At once funky and cool, Barron's "Nubian Lady" sets the tone out of the gate, the tune totally trumping Herbie Mann's Memphis Underground/Push Push style. The similar-sounding "Jungle Plum" is more danceable, simpler, and less attractive. While "Aftican Song" is also in this vein, it is less about the continent in the title as it is reflective of the era, and a slower number. Perhaps that actual title and the sleigh bell-driven "Below Yellow Bell" could have been reversed, for it is more Afrocentric, with Lateef's wordless vocal counterpoint closer to sounds of the savanna over a baroque rhythm & blues. "Hey Jude," under-produced to the point of inaudibility at the outset (the caveat given is "do not adjust the playback level on your audio equipment, readjust your mind"), busts out on the incessantly repeated "na na" chorus with the Sweet Inspirations doing the honors. The other tracks lay low, as Lateef and Al "Tootie" Heath's flutes and Kermit Moore's cello go into late-night mode for "Lowland Lullabye," "The Poor Fisherman" explores the leader's interest in Asian sounds with call and response, and "Queen of the Night" is a two-minute shortie with Eric Gale's modulated guitar mixing up meters of 4/4 and 3/4 in a slightly macabre way. This recording was produced in the middle of Lateef's commercial crossroads phase that started with the Atlantic label issue Yusef Lateef's Detroit in 1969 and ended in 1977 with the CTI release Autophysiopsychic. Though these tracks are potent reminders of how jazz was willfully being manipulated by the record companies -- Creed Taylor in particular -- this album is clear evidence of how great a musician Yusef Lateef was, but not in the context of his best music.

So, it was 1972 and a lot of jazz musicians who had made their names in the 50's and 60's found the 70's difficult to adjust to. Most record companies wanted to make older jazz names "relevant" to a young record buying market firmly rooted in rock. This formula was disastrous for many but a few could ride the crest of this corporate minded wave and survive. In a couple of rare instances the artist could even continue to expand the trajectories they were already forging with only a minimum of disruption to their identity. Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Yusef Lateef are two of the few who adapted well to this corporate mindset (not that they were corporate minded), which saw that mostly white rock 'n roll buying public as a vast untapped reserve.

Well, Lateef, like Kirk, was already stretching out into territory other jazz musicians of their generation kept safely away from and considering Lateef was already embracing Eastern instruments as early as the mid 1950's, it's not at all surprising to hear a smooth rock and roll rhythm section backing him on the very nice, groovy album opener, "Nubian Lady". The drums in particular are certainly more rooted in rock than jazz along with the electric bass and piano but Yusef's flute melody is firmly tied to his persona anyway and the song itself, sans the more rock friendly rhythm section, could easily have fit on "Eastern Sounds" from 1961. And man, there's a lot of flute on this album--standard flute, bamboo flute and pneumatic flute. Next up, "Lowland Lullabye", is just cello and flute (again). Surprisingly this very pleasant little piece, which brings to mind the sun rising over an African savannah, does not feature Lateef at all. The simple but pretty flute is played by the drummer Kuumba 'Tootie' Heath.

The cover of The Beatles "Hey Jude" is the only major misstep on the album and its flow. The first half of this nine minute ten second song is almost inaudible. This was apparently done intentionally. As it states in the liner notes, "Do not adjust the playback level on your audio equipment--Readjust your mind". The volume grows at a glacially slow pace, and early 70's hippie, "groovy concept" bullshit aside, it really obliterates a great portion of an otherwise fantastic cover of this song. Nice playing all around, with Lateef on oboe, mostly lost to the ether due to lack of volume until it just STOPS mid performance. Hmmmm.

The hip electric piano vibe is back, as is Lateef's flute, on "Jungle Plum", where Lateef adds a Kirk-ish rhythmic scat talkin'/playin' technique. The flutes are out again for the next song, "The Poor Fishermen", both Yusef and Tootie Heath playing a very lovely, slightly sombre Lateef original, which, as the song implies, brings to the mind's eye poor fishermen setting out for a long days work on a sunrise dappled ocean. "African Song" and "Queen Of The Night" (one of the best grooves on the album) both have a bit of electric backing with the keyboards and bass and AGAIN that damn flute! By this point one kinda thinks the term "Gentle Giant" arises from his instrument of choice on this record.

That's the main negative, as Yusef is a superb saxophonist, not to mention one of the few big name jazz musicians to who can kick ass on the oboe (just imagine getting your ass kicked by an oboe wielding Yusef!). By limiting his wide pallet of horns, he does narrow the sound of the album, which leans towards the gauze shirted, bean bag side of mellow. The last track, "Below Yellow Bell", is a standout. Yusef does that part talking, part humming, part blowing into the mouthpiece of a horn, or maybe the pneumatic flute, to create a trippy, weird little piece. Punctuated by the odd electric keyboard stab, bells and bongos, this is the direction more of this album should have taken. But I'm sure some Atlantic records bigwig made it clear, "Yusef, baby, LOVE the flute! Yeah, my girlfriend finds the flute sexy, know what I mean? It's IN, the kids love it--Your gonna be the flute guru. Posters of ya' on kids walls baby! YEAH!!

Oh yeah, it states in the liner notes that Yusef also plays tenor sax on this album. You can hear some oboe, like I said earlier, on the audible parts of "Hey Jude" but the tenor sax is MIA. But you know, don't adjust the flutes, Readjust your MIND...

One of the greatest Yusef Lateef albums on Atlantic Records – and that's saying a lot, given the high level of quality he was hitting at the label! The album's a perfect blend of the newly-funky Lateef style with some hipper, more sophisticated touches – a mode that hints at his bigger-concept recordings to come, but which is still pretty lean and clean overall – and damn funky on most of the best tracks! Yusef plays a host of hip flutes here, plus tenor and oboe – and an almost equal star on the record is Kenny Barron, whose electric piano lines really make the album something special. The album begins with a long take on Barron's "Nubian Lady" which begins the record – and Kenny also contributed the tighter grooving "Jungle Plum".