Eastern Sounds
Encyclopedia
Eastern Sounds is an album
by jazz
saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist
Yusef Lateef
, recorded in 1961
. The album features Lateef's continued exploration of Indian music
, which were incorporated into his distinct brand of soulful hard bop
with a quartet featuring Barry Harris
on piano. The opening track features Lateef on Chinese globular flute, generally called the xun
, which moves into a standard blues
progression in D. The fusing of musical genres was not a new thing in jazz or for Lateef as his 1957 Prayer to the East incorporated the shehnai
and Middle East
ern influences in playing jazz standards. Furthermore John Coltrane
was experimenting with the Indian modes
with his quintet by the time of this album, but had yet to record any of these in the studio. Aside from Lateef's original compositions, there are covers
of themes from the films Spartacus
and The Robe
.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
Yusef Lateef
Yusef Lateef
Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...
, recorded in 1961
1961 in music
-Events:*January 15 – Motown Records signs The Supremes.*January 20 – Francis Poulenc's Gloria receives its premiėre in Boston, USA.*February 12 – The Miracles' "Shop Around" becomes Motown's first million-selling single....
. The album features Lateef's continued exploration of Indian music
Music of India
The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, classical music and R&B. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and developed over several eras. It remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as...
, which were incorporated into his distinct brand of soulful hard bop
Hard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...
with a quartet featuring Barry Harris
Barry Harris
Barry Doyle Harris is an American bebop jazz pianist and educator.-Biography:Harris left Detroit for New York City in 1960...
on piano. The opening track features Lateef on Chinese globular flute, generally called the xun
Xun
The xun is a globular, flute-like, Chinese musical instrument. The xun is made of clay or ceramic, similar to an ocarina but without a fipple mouthpiece. Other Chinese flute-like instruments, such as the Wudu and Taodi, however, include a fipple....
, which moves into a standard blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
progression in D. The fusing of musical genres was not a new thing in jazz or for Lateef as his 1957 Prayer to the East incorporated the shehnai
Shehnai
The shehnai, shahnai, shenai or mangal vadya, is an aerophonic instrument, a double reed conical oboe, common in North India, West India and Pakistan, made out of wood, with a metal flare bell at the end...
and Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern influences in playing jazz standards. Furthermore John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
was experimenting with the Indian modes
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
with his quintet by the time of this album, but had yet to record any of these in the studio. Aside from Lateef's original compositions, there are covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of themes from the films Spartacus
Spartacus (film)
Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast...
and The Robe
The Robe (film)
The Robe is a 1953 American Biblical epic film that tells the story of a Roman military tribune who commands the unit that crucifies Jesus. The film was made by 20th Century Fox and is notable for being the first film released in the widescreen process CinemaScope.It was directed by Henry Koster...
.
Track listing
- "The Plum Blossom" (Yusef LateefYusef LateefDr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...
) – 5:03 - "Blues for the Orient" (Lateef) – 5:40
- "Chinq Miau" (Lateef) – 3:20
- "Don't Blame MeDon't Blame Me (song)"Don't Blame Me" is a popular song with music by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. The song was published in 1933.The song received two significant "rock era" remakes: a mellow ballad version by the Everly Brothers, released by Warner Bros...
" (Dorothy FieldsDorothy FieldsDorothy Fields was an American librettist and lyricist.She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films...
, Jimmy McHughJimmy McHughJames Francis McHugh was a U.S. composer. One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, he composed over 270 songs...
) – 4:57 - "Love Theme from Spartacus" (Alex NorthAlex NorthAlex North was an American composer who wrote the first jazz-based film score and one of the first modernist scores written in Hollywood ....
) – 4:15 - "Snafu" (Lateef) – 5:42
- "Purple Flower" (Lateef) – 4:32
- "Love Theme from The Robe" (Alfred NewmanAlfred NewmanAlfred Newman was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of music for films.In a career which spanned over forty years, Newman composed music for over two hundred films. He was one of the most respected film score composers of his time, and is today regarded as one of the greatest...
) – 4:02 - "The Three Faces of Balal" (Lateef) – 2:23
Personnel
- Yusef LateefYusef LateefDr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...
— fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, oboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
, tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
, xunXunThe xun is a globular, flute-like, Chinese musical instrument. The xun is made of clay or ceramic, similar to an ocarina but without a fipple mouthpiece. Other Chinese flute-like instruments, such as the Wudu and Taodi, however, include a fipple....
(called "Chinese globular flute" in liner notes) - Barry HarrisBarry HarrisBarry Doyle Harris is an American bebop jazz pianist and educator.-Biography:Harris left Detroit for New York City in 1960...
— pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal... - Ernie FarrowErnie Farrow"Ernie" Farrow was a jazz multi-instrumentalist who played piano, bass, and drums. He was perhaps best known as a bassist. He is also the half-brother of Alice Coltrane and is said to have introduced her to jazz.Farrow started with piano before adding bass and drums...
— double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, Rabaab (called rabatRabatRabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...
in liner notes) - Lex HumphriesLex HumphriesLex Humphries was a jazz drummer. He worked with two musicians known for mixing world music with jazz; Sun Ra and Yusef Lateef. As a member of Sun Ra's "Arkestra" he appeared in the film Space Is the Place....
— drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....