Centaur & The Phoenix

Yusef Lateef | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 17, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ojc
• ASIN: B000000YXB
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319,336 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #60 in Music > World Music > Africa > Zimbabwe

Editorial Reviews

No description available.
Genre: Jazz Music
Rating:
Release Date: 0000-00-00
Media Type: Compact Disk

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great! (Sorry for the uncreative title!), August 20, 2000

By 

Andreas (Huntington Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Centaur & The Phoenix (Audio CD)

I bought this CD more or less on a lark without much knowledge about the album or about Yusef Lateef. I really like this album. While basically in the hard bop vain, it has some avant-guarde touches, particularly in the harmonies and in the arrangment. It features a nine piece band including Clark Terry and Joe Zawinul. Nevertheless this album is very melodic. Lateef is a geat player on tenor sax and his flute playing is very beautiful, but what really stands out is his oboe playing. The mere fact that he's just about the only oboe virtuoso in jazz is interesting enough (I'm told it's a very difficult instrument to learn). Lateef was in his 30's and already had a recording career going when he took five years to study the oboe from a classical oboe master! "Every Day I Fall in Love", "Summer Song", and the hauntingly beautiful "Iqbal" particularly stand out. "Iqbal" also features Lateef on the Argol, and Indian double-reed instrument (akin to what snake charmers use.

I certainly plan to check out a lot more of Yusef Lateef's music. I can also strongly recommend "Three Faces of Yusef Lateef" and "Eastern Sounds", but this is the one I like best of the three.

12 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why is this man not better known?, February 22, 2002

By 

Paul J. Escamilla "sentient being" (NYC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Centaur & The Phoenix (Audio CD)

I've only recently discovered Yusef Lateef, but I dig just about everything I've heard so far from this sensitive and gifted artist.

Whether on flute, sax, oboe, or whatever, this man had music coursing through his being. He plays with intensity, but not braggadocio. He is lyrical without being sappy. Delicate without being vapid.

I love players who understand restraint and who really choose their notes with care.

Lateef paints masterpieces of jazz music.

4 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars "Third stream" flows into a dry well...., February 15, 2009

By 

Matthew Watters (Vietnam) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Centaur & The Phoenix (Audio CD)

Early efforts to introduce modern classical elements into jazz, e.g., the work of Lennie Tristano or Teddy Charles in the early 1950s, actually anticipated Ornette Coleman and the avant garde by breaking jazz free from the chains of the chord structure. By the time the "Third Stream" came along later in the decade, it was debatable if the music was still jazz, as it was more like programme music, composed and mapped out in advance, with little room for improvisation. This album is actually one of the more enjoyable examples of Third Stream, with some great players on board and some masterful ensemble work. If you are a fan of 20th century classical music, you might enjoy these pieces. If what thrills you in jazz, however, is hearing the individual voices of great improvisors, this is destined to leave you cold.