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92 years young, born the same year as Bird. Happy Birthday Yusef Lateef.
Birth name William Emanuel Huddleston
Born October 9, 1920
Chattanooga, Tennessee United States
Genres New Age music, jazz, Post-bop, jazz fusion, swing, Third Stream, autophysiopsychic music
Occupations Musician, author
Instruments Tenor saxophone, flute, oboe, bassoon, bamboo flute, shehnai, shofar, arghul, koto
Years active 1957–present
Labels Savoy, Prestige, Verve, Riverside, Impulse, Atlantic, CTI, YAL Records
Associated acts Cannonball Adderley, Elvin Jones, Adam Rudolph, Dizzy Gillespie
Website Yusef Lateef.com
Yusef Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920) 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 also plays oboe and bassoon, both rare in jazz, and also uses a number of world music instruments, notably the bamboo flute, shanai, shofar, Xun, arghul, sarewa, and koto. He is known for his innovative blending of jazz with "Eastern" music.
Biography
Early life and career
Lateef was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee; his family moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1925.
Throughout his early life Lateef came into contact with many Detroit-based jazz musicians who went on to gain prominence, including vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Elvin Jones, and guitarist Kenny Burrell. Lateef was a proficient saxophonist by the time of his graduation from high school at the age of 18, when he launched his professional career and began touring with a number of swing bands.
In 1949, he was invited by Dizzy Gillespie to tour with his orchestra. In 1950, Lateef returned to Detroit and began his studies in composition and flute at Wayne State University. It was during this period that he converted to Islam as a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
Prominence
Lateef began recording as a leader in 1957 for Savoy Records, a non-exclusive association which continued until 1959; the earliest of Lateef's album's for the Prestige subsidiary New Jazz overlap with them. Musicians such as Wilbur Harden and Hugh Lawson were among his collaborators during this period.
By 1961, with the recording of Into Something and Eastern Sounds, Lateef's dominant presence within a group context had emerged. His 'Eastern' influences are clearly audible in all of these recordings, with spots for instruments like the rahab, shanai, arghul, koto and a collection of Chinese wooden flutes and bells along with his tenor and flute. Even his use of the western oboe sounds exotic in this context; it is not a standard jazz instrument. Indeed the tunes themselves are a mixture of jazz standards, blues and film music usually performed with a piano/bass/drums rhythm section in support. Along with trumpeter Don Cherry, Lateef can lay claim to being among the first exponents of the world music as subgenres of jazz. Lateef also made numerous contributions to other people's albums including his time as a member of saxophonist Cannonball Adderley's Quintet during 1962-64.
Lateef's sound has been claimed to have been a major influence on the saxophonist John Coltrane, whose later period free jazz recordings contain similarly 'Eastern' traits. For a time (1963–66) Lateef was signed to Coltrane's label, Impulse. He had a regular working group during this period, with trumpeter Richard Williams and Mike Nock on piano. They enjoyed a residency at Pep's Lounge during June 1964; an evening of which was issued across several albums.
In the late 1960s he began to incorporate contemporary soul and gospel phrasing into his music, still with a strong blues underlay, on albums such as Detroit and Hush'n'Thunder.
Lateef has expressed a dislike of the terms "jazz" and "jazz musician" as musical generalizations. As is so often the case with such generalizations, the use of these terms do understate the breadth of his sound. For example, in the 1980s, Lateef experimented with new age and spiritual elements. His 1987 album Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. His core influences, however, are clearly rooted in jazz, and in his own words: "My music is jazz."
In 1992, Lateef founded YAL Records, his own label for which he records today. In 1993, Lateef was commissioned by the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne to compose The African American Epic Suite, a four part work for orchestra and quartet based on themes of slavery and disfranchisement in the United States. The piece has since been performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Education and teaching
In 1960, Lateef again returned to school, studying flute at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Music in 1969 and a Master's Degree in Music Education in 1970. Starting in 1971, he taught courses in autophysiopsychic music at the Manhattan School of Music, and he became an associate professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in 1972.
In 1975, Lateef completed his dissertation on Western and Islamic education and earned a Ed.D. in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
In the early 1980s Lateef was a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Nigerian Cultural Studies at Ahmadu Bello University in the city of Zaria, Nigeria. Returning to the US in 1986 he took teaching positions at the University of Massachusetts and Amherst College. Presently, he continues to teach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Hampshire College in western Massachusetts.
Lateef has written and published a number of books including two novellas entitled A Night in the Garden of Love and Another Avenue, the short story collections Spheres and Rain Shapes, also his autobiography, The Gentle Giant, written in collaboration with Herb Boyd.
Along with his record label YAL Records, Lateef owns Fana Music, a music publishing company. Lateef publishes his own work through Fana, which includes Yusef Lateef's Flute Book of the Blues and many of his own orchestral compositions.
Autophysiopsychic Music, Lateef's term, refers to music which comes from one's physical, mental, and spiritual self. Lateef has written extensively on the topic and includes it in his book Method To Perform Autophysiopsychic Music. In this view, it should be the goal of every musician to combine their theoretical knowledge with their life experience, and to offer to and accept knowledge from their personal source of strength, inspiration and knowledge.
Awards and honors
In 2010 he received lifetime the Jazz Master Fellowship Award from NEA, National Endowment for the Arts which is an independent federal agency.
National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters is the highest honor given in Jazz established in 1982.
WGBH Jazz, a popular public radio from Boston, Massachusetts, aired a special-documentary program for Lateef, titled A portrait of saxophonist Yusef Lateef in his own words and music.
Discography
As leader
Jazz for the Thinker (Savoy, 1957)
Jazz Mood (Savoy, 1957)
Before Dawn: The Music of Yusef Lateef (Verve, 1957)
Jazz and the Sounds of Nature (Savoy, 1957)
Prayer to the East (Savoy, 1957)
The Sounds of Yusef (Prestige, 1957)
Other Sounds (New Jazz, 1957)
Lateef at Cranbrook (Argo, 1958)
The Dreamer (Savoy, 1959)
The Fabric of Jazz (Savoy, 1959)
Cry! - Tender (New Jazz, 1959)
The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef (Riverside, 1960)
The Centaur and the Phoenix (Riverside, 1960)
Lost in Sound (Charlie Parker, 1961)
Eastern Sounds (Moodsville, 1961)
Into Something (New Jazz, 1961)
Jazz 'Round the World (Impulse!, 1963)
Live at Pep's (Impulse!, 1964)
1984 (Impulse!, 1965)
Psychicemotus (Impulse!, 1965)
A Flat, G Flat and C (Impulse!, 1966)
The Golden Flute (Impulse!, 1966)
The Complete Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1967)
The Blue Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1968)
Yusef Lateef's Detroit (Atlantic, 1969)
The Diverse Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1969)
Suite 16 (Atlantic, 1970)
The Gentle Giant (Atlantic, 1971)
Hush 'N' Thunder (Atlantic, 1972)
Part of the Search (Atlantic, 1973)
10 Years Hence (Atlantic, 1974)
The Doctor is In... and Out (Atlantic, 1976)
Autophysiopsychic (1977, CTI Records)
In a Temple Garden (1979, CTI Records)
Yusef Lateef in Nigeria (Landmark, 1983)
Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony (Atlantic, 1987)
Concerto for Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1988)
Nocturnes (Atlantic, 1989)
Meditations (Atlantic, 1990)
Yusef Lateef's Encounters (Atlantic, 1991)
Tenors of Yusef Lateef and Von Freeman (Yal, 1992)
Heart Vision (Yal, 1992)
Yusef Lateef Plays Ballads (Yal, 1993)
Tenors of Yusef Lateef and Archie Shepp (Yal, 1993)
Woodwinds (Yal, 1993)
The World at Peace (1997)
Beyond the Sky (2000)
Go: Organic Orchestra: In the Garden (2003)
The Doctor is In and Out (2005)
Nocturnes (2005)
The Complete Yusef Lateef (2005)
The Blue Yusef Lateef (2005)
Influence with Lionel and Stéphane Belmondo (2005)
10 Years Hence (2008)
Roots Run Deep (2012, Rogue Art)
As sideman
With Donald Byrd
Byrd Jazz (Transition, 1955) - also released as First Flight (Delmark)
With Art Farmer
Something You Got (CTI, 1977)
With Curtis Fuller
Images of Curtis Fuller (Savoy, 1960)
Boss of the Soul-Stream Trombone (Warwick, 1960)
With Grant Green
Grantstand (1961; Blue Note)
With Cannonball Adderley
The Cannonball Adderley Sextet in New York (1962; Riverside)
Cannonball in Europe! (1962; Riverside)
Jazz Workshop Revisited (1962; Riverside)
Autumn Leaves (1963; Riverside)
Nippon Soul (1963; Riverside)
With Leon Redbone
Double Time on the track "Mississippi Delta Blues" (1976; Warner Bros. Records)
With Randy Weston
Uhuru Afrika (Roulette, 1960)
a great interview here; http://oldnews.aadl.org/node/201858
Anyhow as Yusef Lateef told me."Serious practice is the only way to induce
advancement ".Work hard ,few things in life have the spiritual rewards that
music does. Happy birthday my friend....With great respect- Tim Price
...... 
- I got this LP early 1974, having heard Holland, Altschul, and Braxton in Chick Corea's band Circle, and of course knowing Holland's work on some highly conspicuous Miles Davis recordings (In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew...). I bought CotB under the impression that I knew what I was getting myself into. I'd been wrestling with atonality for awhile -- late Coltrane, Schoenberg, whatever I could find that seemed reasonably "important." I was not getting it. I had the youthful faith that there was something worthwhile happening inside all that cacophony, but I needed a Rosetta Stone to make sense of it. "Conference of the Birds" was my Rosetta Stone. From the opening bars of "Four Winds" I was completely captivated. It swings hard, the improvisations are always coherent -- no matter how frenzied and dissonant they sound, and Holland's compositions are outstanding. The title song is a beautiful folk ballad that makes a perfect breather amid the fiery uptempo rants and cryptic, avant garde soundscapes. This record was the best education my ears ever had. Even though I now have it on CD, I still have my battered vinyl copy of CotB, and hold onto it for purely sentimental reasons.In the early '70s, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul had a well-deserved reputation as the most fluently creative rhythm section in free jazz. Two of the groups they worked with regularly were those of Sam Rivers and Anthony Braxton. It was Holland's inspiration to pair the two in this 1972 quartet, when Rivers and Braxton represented two distinct generations of the avant-garde, the former generating explosive, driven tenor lines filled with honks and cries and the latter creating oblique postmodern solos on a variety of reeds. It was a brilliant idea, and the results are one of the essential jazz recordings of the'70s. Holland's compositions include boppish, Ornette-inspired lines and strong melodies that provide cool and varied frames for improvisation. That Rivers and Braxton are among the finest flutists in jazz is just one of the treats, while Holland is one of the great bassists. Altschul's scintillating drumming completes a quartet with some of the quickest reflexes in improvised music.
Holland is without question one of the greatest living jazz artists, and no bassist except Charles Mingus has ever matched his all-around musicianship. I think Holland's output on ECM has been very consistent over the quarter-century he's been recording for them, so it might seem unfair to call this the best recording to ever come out under his name, but he's never really topped this.
To me, this disc is the jazz equivalent of a Bartok string quartet, and in my book, it doesn't get any better than that
Conference of the Birds" is the most influential jazz album ever, for me personally. Rivers' contribution is inspired to say the least. The organization of songs around melodic clips and collective improvisation with the guys listening to and supporting each other was a true revelation. The ability of everyone to comp behind the soloist and add what is necessary with sensitivity is just amazing. There must have been a lot of visual communication going on at a really high level. This is where I learned that "free jazz" is not chaotic jazz.
inally bought the LP of this in early 1974, having heard Holland, Altschul, and Braxton in Chick Corea's band Circle, and of course knowing Holland's work on some highly conspicuous Miles Davis recordings (In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew...). I bought CotB under the impression that I knew what I was getting myself into. I'd been wrestling with atonality for awhile -- late Coltrane, Schoenberg, whatever I could find that seemed reasonably "important." I was not getting it. I had the youthful faith that there was something worthwhile happening inside all that cacophony, but I needed a Rosetta Stone to make sense of it. "Conference of the Birds" was my Rosetta Stone. From the opening bars of "Four Winds" I was completely captivated. It swings hard, the improvisations are always coherent -- no matter how frenzied and dissonant they sound, and Holland's compositions are outstanding. The title song is a beautiful folk ballad that makes a perfect breather amid the fiery uptempo rants and cryptic, avant garde soundscapes. Holland is without question one of the greatest living jazz artists, and no bassist except Charles Mingus has ever matched his all-around musicianship. I think Holland's output on ECM has been very consistent over the quarter-century he's been recording for them, so it might seem unfair to call this the best recording to ever come out under his name, but he's never really topped this. Check out all of them, but if you like CotB in particular you should also listen to the Dave Holland/Sam Rivers duet records, particularly Volume One.
To me, this disc is the jazz equivalent of a Bartok string quartet, and in my book, it doesn't get any better than that.THIS...is something special and should be heard by everyone. Listen. - TIM PRICE
Many are entranced by harmony, the in & out of the music. So to speak.But there's more to it than a techinique- it's THE MELODY. How you phrase it and the message.
I note with extreme interest, that to get to a level of a Coltrane, Miles Davis or Michael Brecker, one needs to have their melody playing as tight as possible. To many rely on what might be " required" or the peer group their in. But realistically speaking, you need MELODY to make the advanced techniques work.You need to enhance your playing with the richness of color and its subsequent emotional power to bring the listener into your story. After all, you won't be playing for your peers all your life. Right?
Learning standards, such as " Body & Soul", " Stardust", " I Can't Get Started" and so many others.In this sense I mean knowing the song without a fake book. Playing from that agenda. Of course tunes like " Soul Eyes", " Lush Life" and Strayhorn gems need chord lead sheet road maps.But the agenda of knowing standards is essential.Improvising is a bottomless pit of discovery with unending combinations,but it's useless unless you study the roots of the music. If you do not know the melody, and chords to ballads like I mentioned or worse yet songs like " All Blues" and " Tune Up" there are huge missing links within.
Without the aspect of swing, and melody the core of the tradition is not present.With out question the supremacy of melody has to be acknowledged.We all know that harmony shades and supports melody,enhancing its beauty and depth. In jazz creating a strong melody stands as a crowning achievement.
We have all remarked when an innocent child speaks their mind and reveals something candid, with no worries about consequences, failure, or judgment that makes us think. We also know there is something envious about that special quality; raw freedom to express with no fears or hang-ups. When a young student drums on a desk, draws on a paper, or sings, sincerity is at its best. And it’s all valid because it’s sincere.
Our attraction to music is a personal one. Sure, there are peer pressures, and multi musical purposes, but somewhere in our hearts we have our own musical tastes. To step forward and play what you feel might be your best move.I feel it’s tragic to not explore music and life through creativity and self development. I respect the ideal of traditional development of needed musical skills but not at the cost of creativity. No one should have to wait some undetermined amount of time to compose something or even think about composing something.Ditto with improvisation. Same with any writing or art. It’s sincere. It’s in the moment.
The path of a true "artist" is a rocky road. It's like walking up wet glass at times but after a while it's fun.It is your business to keep the channel open.You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you.You'll note a slow emergence almost imperceptible. it will be something you never forget.
Now's the time tell a genuine story, speak the truth, and someone will appreciate it.It is part and parcel of being an artist.
Keep the channel open, and try your best.You'll learn something special.The saxophone has long been considered to be the most versatile musical instrument.The spontaneity of an artist doesn't flow from an unrehearsed consciousness. It flows because they thought about things hard and honestly, as to obtain a level of direction within their performance.
To obtain total creative control, it must be thought about, studied, listened to and internalized even more. When I heard Michael Brecker play in concert the thing that struck me was how he used changes in volume (dynamics) to great effect. Sure, he played fast, high and split notes etc BUT it was his use of dynamics that floored me. Listen to the 30 second long, almost inaudible Low B at the end of Delta City Blues. Get my drift?!? Another great example is Stan Getz, on the CD " Sweet Rain", listen to the dynamics of the entire recording. Especially " Litha". How about Coltrane on " Stardust", or Coltrane on " Lush Life" ? The majority of Trane guys never approach the Prestige / Blue Note Coltrane conceptions, just the later/modal stuff.
~ Just a quick commercial saxually speaking..about clinics-workshops and concerts.
I'm expanding my base of operations more and more. Week to week- I'm finding out that I need to get to YOUR city for performances, school concerts-clinics and so on. As I book myself, I am just letting those interested know.
Check out Jeff Coffins words about what I do ;
"Tim Price has captured my imagination on many occasions with his forward thinking arrangements and wonderfully captivating playing. He is a unique musician made more unique because he has searched and found his own voice. Truly a rare find in music."
~ Jeff Coffin
Tim Price- On the Road (Promo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGaAWGW5gWo
EUROPE ESPECIALLY! Let me know how I can be of service? JUST ASK!!
http://www.timpricejazz.com/booking.html
I'll be talking more about ~stepping forward~ and taking your chances. Now's the time.
Thanks, and keep on your path......Tim Price
Practice: now, then and always
By Tim Price
Practice: now, then and always
By Tim Price
Today's musicians – whether students, educators, or professionals – need to strive for quality of practice. Developing a sustainable routine is really a
life-long process. Young people can function off desire and youthful animal
energy. In the long run, though, the creative person needs to find a way to
maintain a level of interest and vitality in the art. This takes work and
intelligence.
The concept of daily practice is an important one, as it is the best
way to make any kind of musical progress. Daily effort keeps players finely
attuned to continuous movement and the incremental accumulation of progress. Practicing sporadically causes you to lose the thread of your practice and is thus much less effective.
Through diligent, consistent daily work, a tangible musical
substance is developed. First of all, it is helpful to develop physical stamina through the repeated effort. Also, from day to day, students will accumulate ideas and expand on the themes of their practice. On a topic like working Major chords; the first day might be devoted to arpeggios, and the next day might be finding some connections to other musical sources or songs. By continuing to work with focus on the same things from day to day, students will find their level of proficiency rising and expanding to include all these other sources.
Practicing every day results in the acquisition of technique, musical
intelligence, improved tone, and stamina. Just the quest to continuously find something to practice will increase a musician’s creativity.
There are so many variations of scales, melodies, and melodic
patterns. The only real limitations are determined by focus and creativity.
For example: let's say that you have adequately practiced your horn and now want something else to work on. You could sit down at the piano and transcribe a song, learn a song by ear that you may have previously learned by wrote. This, is one of the most beneficial practices you can do. Ear training, learning songs, listening to other players, hearing bass lines or melodies. Ok. Now you've spent a few hours and learned a tune the way its supposed to be played.
You know the tune inside and out, in essence a great organizational mind skills study too. However your mind works. Don't overload – otherwise nothing sticks.
Your capacity will increase after you have spent more and more time. It's
amazing how connections are made, they seem to occur in a fashion which is beyond the conscious ability to plan and organize.
Daily practice also allows me to imprint the material in my mind
until it becomes instinct. One long practice session will not do this. For most players, useful techniques can only be acquired through repetition. I always try to work new materials into songs, lines and grooves that I like. For me it's sort of like upgrading my musical mind so that my playing becomes reoriented in
the directions I choose. Increasing familiarity with the materials is a good
thing. It's like learning a language – music is a language.
Go Long Long tones should be the most important part of your practice routine. This fact is surprising to many beginner or intermediate saxophonists.
Why Go Long? Every saxophonist, clarinetist, flute, oboe and bassoon player needs this.
Long tones help you develop muscles and skills that are extremely important in
most playing situations:
• Embouchure. If the embouchure is correct throughout all of the long tones,
then you will feel the burn as you reach the high notes. Make sure to really
squeeze the corners in the high notes, and do not bite. If you feel the biting,
stop, rest for a little while, and then continue when you feel ready.
• Tonal quality. By playing long tones, you become subconsciously aware of the overtones and can develop a finer tone quality.
How to Practice
Long tones should be practiced the following way:
1. Begin with low Bb and play this note at a piano volume the best you can for 10 seconds.
2. If you need to, use a metronome and set it to 60 beats per minute.
3. Go up chromatically and play each note in the range of the instrument. With correct lower lip and breath support as well as well-developed control of the muscles involved, you should be able to keep the intonation even.
4. Be conscious of tone quality, intonation, breath support and embouchure.
5. Use a mirror to see your embouchure. Long tones must be practiced for about
15 minutes at a time. In the first session, start at low Bb and ascend to the highest note you can play correctly. In the second session, start at the highest note you can play correctly, and descend to low Bb. Try your best to practice long tones as much as you can.
THE 7 DAY PLAN
This will help woodwind focus, and it’s easy too. Each day of the week choose one subject and work on it all day long. Pick your weak areas. A typical week might look something like this plan below :we want to equip ourselves with the right outlook. Write down realistic plans to improve your goals. This will develop a focus on what you are trying to accomplish. No matter what level your at as a musician.
Monday: Just play, all day. Letting go, feeling your way up and down the sax, checking out the sound. Have fun and listen to your strong points. This usually starts out being abstract and works its way into more melodic playing. Doing this all day gives us plenty of time to really get the idea of the exercise.
Write down notes to yourself on what you want to work on that week; then during the week approach your ideas one by one.
Tuesday: Melodic playing. Today start to put two or more notes together that sound 'pretty'. Take a look at your REAL BOOK/ or any book of songs, and notice how some of the great tunes are made up of simple intervals. Some of them are short scale passages. This gives us a clue that it does not take much to write or play a good melody. Write at least one idea down a day, and it will help you to think melodically and will add more substance to any style.No matter what
level your at. Wednesday: Quality over quality. What do you feel you need to make stronger?
Take today and study it. Make friends with the area of your playing that needs more focus. As your thirst to improve grows add this Wednesday topic to your other days. Practice scales, licks, study other players styles on CD's.
Thursday: New melodies and new chords. This day we take some of the melodies created on Tuesday and put them together. Don't judge your new pieces but keep trying until you find something you like. Remember you have all day to come up with something that makes you feel good. If you write two bars you are a big winner. Also, try to take the new chords and use them in some of the tunes you know. Or make up your own progressions with them. You are being creative this
day. Be yourself, not someone you read about.
Friday: Listen to music all day long, new and old CD's. Get inspired and make notes of the players' style, how they phrase, keep time, how they let space and silence become part of their solos. Can you remember a few ideas that you can play? Be eclectic! Listen to rock, jazz, classical, world music or spoken word.
Be inspired this day. It's your day!
Saturday: What caught your musical ear? Was there something this week that made you think differently? This is the day to investigate further and go deeper
into that . Try to understand what moves you. If it caught your fancy, stick
with it until it reveals itself to you. This day may change your life! Document this feeling you have. It is important for your future.
Sunday: Review in your mind,think about the week of practice. Review things slowly- listen for improvements. Remember, intuition is your very best friend.
Listen to it and be ready to act on it. If it sounds good, remember how you
worked and focused on it to get it to that point.
Arrange your seven days your own way. Add subjects that you love. Add new directions from time to time. Go slowly, enjoy the journey and grow within your own ideas. It helps to have a plan for the week, keep it loose like this so it can grow-for you. It will take a certain amount of pressure off and allows you to relax as you practice. Focus today so tomorrow your closer to your goals.
Thank you and hope this helps everyone- Think creative. Tim Price
* Tim Price - Professional musician- educator- author -recording artist.Selmer clinician and Rico Reeds, Theo Wanne artist.
In addition to giving private studio Tim has taught students from Tokyo and Texas to Tel-Aviv using on line instruction via SKYPE.
One of the most in demand educators today- He teaches in NYC and Reading, Pa. Workshops and Clinics worldwide. His books are published through Hal Leonard. * @Price Music 2013-Allrights.
This weeks RICO BLOG will help woodwind focus, and it’s easy too. Each day of the week choose
one subject and work on it all day long. Pick your weak areas. A typical week
might look something like this plan below :we want to equip ourselves with the
right outlook. Write down realistic plans to improve your goals. This will
develop a focus on what you are trying to accomplish. No matter what level your
at as a musician.
Monday: Just play, all day. Letting go, feeling your way up and down the sax,
checking out the sound. Have fun and listen to your strong points. This usually
starts out being abstract and works its way into more melodic playing. Doing
this all day gives us plenty of time to really get the idea of the exercise.
Write down notes to yourself on what you want to work on that week; then during
the week approach your ideas one by one.
Tuesday: Melodic playing. Today start to put two or more notes together that
sound 'pretty'. Take a look at your REAL BOOK/ or any book of songs, and notice
how some of the great tunes are made up of simple intervals. Some of them are
short scale passages. This gives us a clue that it does not take much to write
or play a good melody. Write at least one idea down a day, and it will help you
to think melodically and will add more substance to any style.No matter what
level your at.
Wednesday: Quality over quality. What do you feel you need to make stronger?
Take today and study it. Make friends with the area of your playing that needs
more focus. As your thirst to improve grows add this Wednesday topic to your
other days. Practice scales, licks, study other players styles on CD's.
Thursday: New melodies and new chords. This day we take some of the melodies
created on Tuesday and put them together. Don't judge your new pieces but keep
trying until you find something you like. Remember you have all day to come up
with something that makes you feel good. If you write two bars you are a big
winner. Also, try to take the new chords and use them in some of the tunes you
know. Or make up your own progressions with them. You are being creative this
day. Be yourself, not someone you read about.
Friday: Listen to music all day long, new and old CD's. Get inspired and make
notes of the players' style, how they phrase, keep time, how they let space and
silence become part of their solos. Can you remember a few ideas that you can
play? Be eclectic! Listen to rock, jazz, classical, world music or spoken word.
Be inspired this day. It's your day!
Saturday: What caught your musical ear? Was there something this week that made
you think differently? This is the day to investigate further and go deeper
into that . Try to understand what moves you. If it caught your fancy, stick
with it until it reveals itself to you. This day may change your life! Document
this feeling you have. It is important for your future.
Sunday: Review in your mind,think about the week of practice. Review things
slowly- listen for improvements. Remember, intuition is your very best friend.
Listen to it and be ready to act on it. If it sounds good, remember how you
worked and focused on it to get it to that point.
Arrange your seven days your own way. Add subjects that you love. Add new
directions from time to time. Go slowly, enjoy the journey and grow within your
own ideas. It helps to have a plan for the week, keep it loose like this so it
can grow-for you. It will take a certain amount of pressure off and allows you
to relax as you practice. Focus today so tomorrow your closer to your goals.
Thank you and hope this helps everyone- Think creative. Tim Price
Tim Price - Professional musician- educator- author -recording artist.Selmer
clinician and Rico Reeds artist.
In addition to giving private studio Tim has taught students from Tokyo and
Texas to Tel-Aviv using on line instruction via SKYPE.
One of the most in demand educators in New School University and New York Jazz
Workshop.
He is in the vanguard of education, in demand clinician, author and one of the
innovators of jazz bassoon. www.timpricejazz.com
SOUND AND BUILDING A BETTER SOUND....
Long tones should be the most important part of your practice routine. This fact is surprising to many beginner or intermediate saxophonists.
Why Go Long?
Long tones help you develop muscles and skills that are extremely important in most playing situations:
• Embouchure. If the embouchure is correct throughout all of the long tones, then you will feel the burn as you reach the high notes. Make sure to really squeeze the corners in the high notes, and do not bite. If you feel the biting, stop, rest for a little while, and then continue when you feel ready.
• Tonal quality. By playing long tones, you become subconsciously aware of the overtones and can develop a finer tone quality.
How to Practice
Long tones should be practiced the following way:
1. Begin with low Bb and play this note at a piano volume the best you can for 10 seconds.
2. If you need to, use a metronome and set it to 60 beats per minute.
3. Go up chromatically and play each note in the range of the instrument. With correct lower lip and breath support as well as well-developed control of the muscles involved, you should be able to keep the intonation even.
4. Be conscious of tone quality, intonation, breath support and embouchure.
5. Use a mirror to see your embouchure. Long tones must be practiced for about 15 minutes at a time. In the first session, start at low Bb and ascend to the highest note you can play correctly. In the second session, start at the highest note you can play correctly, and descend to low Bb. Try your best to practice long tones as much as you can.
Hope this helps- Tim Price
- I believe in the power and importance of study in music, and education in the grand scheme of a players development. I am passionate about piano study- young players need to make it their business. It will convey knowledge, spread ideas, and can transport you into alternate lives and worlds on the bandstand, improvising and more. It's why I'm working so hard to help people develop more and get more out of playing chords, progressions and on piano.
As a jazz musician and educator, I have many jazz books and each has its merits.In these four piano study's I went for the straightforward,logical and visually interesting presentation of essential information.Much of the content of these is pertinent to any instrumentalist getting into jazz. On these tensions, voice leading are the topic of the day on II-V chords. Hope this helps.
~ Work, play and study these.This deals exclusively with how to play piano voicings---the chord technique used by Bill Evans, Barry Harris, Cedar Walton, McCoy Tyner,Horace Silver and many other jazz piano greats. Last but not least- Listen to Horace Silver. Get all his CDs, study how he wrote his tunes, listen to the connect in the sax and trumpet. You'll learn a lot. Horace is a master that you got to study. Till next week- keep practicing, eating good stuff and don't forget to play the blues on your gigs. - TIM PRICE
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Birth name William Emanuel Huddleston
Born October 9, 1920
Chattanooga, Tennessee United States
Genres New Age music, jazz, Post-bop, jazz fusion, swing, Third Stream, autophysiopsychic music
Occupations Musician, author
Instruments Tenor saxophone, flute, oboe, bassoon, bamboo flute, shehnai, shofar, arghul, koto
Years active 1957–present
Labels Savoy, Prestige, Verve, Riverside, Impulse, Atlantic, CTI, YAL Records
Associated acts Cannonball Adderley, Elvin Jones, Adam Rudolph, Dizzy Gillespie
Website Yusef Lateef.com
Yusef Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920) 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 also plays oboe and bassoon, both rare in jazz, and also uses a number of world music instruments, notably the bamboo flute, shanai, shofar, Xun, arghul, sarewa, and koto. He is known for his innovative blending of jazz with "Eastern" music.
Biography
Early life and career
Lateef was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee; his family moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1925.
Throughout his early life Lateef came into contact with many Detroit-based jazz musicians who went on to gain prominence, including vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Elvin Jones, and guitarist Kenny Burrell. Lateef was a proficient saxophonist by the time of his graduation from high school at the age of 18, when he launched his professional career and began touring with a number of swing bands.
In 1949, he was invited by Dizzy Gillespie to tour with his orchestra. In 1950, Lateef returned to Detroit and began his studies in composition and flute at Wayne State University. It was during this period that he converted to Islam as a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
Prominence
Lateef began recording as a leader in 1957 for Savoy Records, a non-exclusive association which continued until 1959; the earliest of Lateef's album's for the Prestige subsidiary New Jazz overlap with them. Musicians such as Wilbur Harden and Hugh Lawson were among his collaborators during this period.
By 1961, with the recording of Into Something and Eastern Sounds, Lateef's dominant presence within a group context had emerged. His 'Eastern' influences are clearly audible in all of these recordings, with spots for instruments like the rahab, shanai, arghul, koto and a collection of Chinese wooden flutes and bells along with his tenor and flute. Even his use of the western oboe sounds exotic in this context; it is not a standard jazz instrument. Indeed the tunes themselves are a mixture of jazz standards, blues and film music usually performed with a piano/bass/drums rhythm section in support. Along with trumpeter Don Cherry, Lateef can lay claim to being among the first exponents of the world music as subgenres of jazz. Lateef also made numerous contributions to other people's albums including his time as a member of saxophonist Cannonball Adderley's Quintet during 1962-64.
Lateef's sound has been claimed to have been a major influence on the saxophonist John Coltrane, whose later period free jazz recordings contain similarly 'Eastern' traits. For a time (1963–66) Lateef was signed to Coltrane's label, Impulse. He had a regular working group during this period, with trumpeter Richard Williams and Mike Nock on piano. They enjoyed a residency at Pep's Lounge during June 1964; an evening of which was issued across several albums.
In the late 1960s he began to incorporate contemporary soul and gospel phrasing into his music, still with a strong blues underlay, on albums such as Detroit and Hush'n'Thunder.
Lateef has expressed a dislike of the terms "jazz" and "jazz musician" as musical generalizations. As is so often the case with such generalizations, the use of these terms do understate the breadth of his sound. For example, in the 1980s, Lateef experimented with new age and spiritual elements. His 1987 album Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. His core influences, however, are clearly rooted in jazz, and in his own words: "My music is jazz."
In 1992, Lateef founded YAL Records, his own label for which he records today. In 1993, Lateef was commissioned by the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne to compose The African American Epic Suite, a four part work for orchestra and quartet based on themes of slavery and disfranchisement in the United States. The piece has since been performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Education and teaching
In 1960, Lateef again returned to school, studying flute at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Music in 1969 and a Master's Degree in Music Education in 1970. Starting in 1971, he taught courses in autophysiopsychic music at the Manhattan School of Music, and he became an associate professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in 1972.
In 1975, Lateef completed his dissertation on Western and Islamic education and earned a Ed.D. in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
In the early 1980s Lateef was a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Nigerian Cultural Studies at Ahmadu Bello University in the city of Zaria, Nigeria. Returning to the US in 1986 he took teaching positions at the University of Massachusetts and Amherst College. Presently, he continues to teach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Hampshire College in western Massachusetts.
Lateef has written and published a number of books including two novellas entitled A Night in the Garden of Love and Another Avenue, the short story collections Spheres and Rain Shapes, also his autobiography, The Gentle Giant, written in collaboration with Herb Boyd.
Along with his record label YAL Records, Lateef owns Fana Music, a music publishing company. Lateef publishes his own work through Fana, which includes Yusef Lateef's Flute Book of the Blues and many of his own orchestral compositions.
Autophysiopsychic Music, Lateef's term, refers to music which comes from one's physical, mental, and spiritual self. Lateef has written extensively on the topic and includes it in his book Method To Perform Autophysiopsychic Music. In this view, it should be the goal of every musician to combine their theoretical knowledge with their life experience, and to offer to and accept knowledge from their personal source of strength, inspiration and knowledge.
Awards and honors
In 2010 he received lifetime the Jazz Master Fellowship Award from NEA, National Endowment for the Arts which is an independent federal agency.
National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters is the highest honor given in Jazz established in 1982.
WGBH Jazz, a popular public radio from Boston, Massachusetts, aired a special-documentary program for Lateef, titled A portrait of saxophonist Yusef Lateef in his own words and music.
Discography
As leader
Jazz for the Thinker (Savoy, 1957)
Jazz Mood (Savoy, 1957)
Before Dawn: The Music of Yusef Lateef (Verve, 1957)
Jazz and the Sounds of Nature (Savoy, 1957)
Prayer to the East (Savoy, 1957)
The Sounds of Yusef (Prestige, 1957)
Other Sounds (New Jazz, 1957)
Lateef at Cranbrook (Argo, 1958)
The Dreamer (Savoy, 1959)
The Fabric of Jazz (Savoy, 1959)
Cry! - Tender (New Jazz, 1959)
The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef (Riverside, 1960)
The Centaur and the Phoenix (Riverside, 1960)
Lost in Sound (Charlie Parker, 1961)
Eastern Sounds (Moodsville, 1961)
Into Something (New Jazz, 1961)
Jazz 'Round the World (Impulse!, 1963)
Live at Pep's (Impulse!, 1964)
1984 (Impulse!, 1965)
Psychicemotus (Impulse!, 1965)
A Flat, G Flat and C (Impulse!, 1966)
The Golden Flute (Impulse!, 1966)
The Complete Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1967)
The Blue Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1968)
Yusef Lateef's Detroit (Atlantic, 1969)
The Diverse Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1969)
Suite 16 (Atlantic, 1970)
The Gentle Giant (Atlantic, 1971)
Hush 'N' Thunder (Atlantic, 1972)
Part of the Search (Atlantic, 1973)
10 Years Hence (Atlantic, 1974)
The Doctor is In... and Out (Atlantic, 1976)
Autophysiopsychic (1977, CTI Records)
In a Temple Garden (1979, CTI Records)
Yusef Lateef in Nigeria (Landmark, 1983)
Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony (Atlantic, 1987)
Concerto for Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1988)
Nocturnes (Atlantic, 1989)
Meditations (Atlantic, 1990)
Yusef Lateef's Encounters (Atlantic, 1991)
Tenors of Yusef Lateef and Von Freeman (Yal, 1992)
Heart Vision (Yal, 1992)
Yusef Lateef Plays Ballads (Yal, 1993)
Tenors of Yusef Lateef and Archie Shepp (Yal, 1993)
Woodwinds (Yal, 1993)
The World at Peace (1997)
Beyond the Sky (2000)
Go: Organic Orchestra: In the Garden (2003)
The Doctor is In and Out (2005)
Nocturnes (2005)
The Complete Yusef Lateef (2005)
The Blue Yusef Lateef (2005)
Influence with Lionel and Stéphane Belmondo (2005)
10 Years Hence (2008)
Roots Run Deep (2012, Rogue Art)
As sideman
With Donald Byrd
Byrd Jazz (Transition, 1955) - also released as First Flight (Delmark)
With Art Farmer
Something You Got (CTI, 1977)
With Curtis Fuller
Images of Curtis Fuller (Savoy, 1960)
Boss of the Soul-Stream Trombone (Warwick, 1960)
With Grant Green
Grantstand (1961; Blue Note)
With Cannonball Adderley
The Cannonball Adderley Sextet in New York (1962; Riverside)
Cannonball in Europe! (1962; Riverside)
Jazz Workshop Revisited (1962; Riverside)
Autumn Leaves (1963; Riverside)
Nippon Soul (1963; Riverside)
With Leon Redbone
Double Time on the track "Mississippi Delta Blues" (1976; Warner Bros. Records)
With Randy Weston
Uhuru Afrika (Roulette, 1960)
a great interview here; http://oldnews.aadl.org/node/201858
Anyhow as Yusef Lateef told me."Serious practice is the only way to induce
advancement ".Work hard ,few things in life have the spiritual rewards that
music does. Happy birthday my friend....With great respect- Tim Price
