Editing Yusef Lateef (section)

==Biography==

===Early life and career===
Lateef was born in [[Chattanooga, Tennessee|Chattanooga]], Tennessee, as William Emanuel Huddleston. His family moved, in 1923, to [[Lorain, Ohio|Lorain]], Ohio, and again in 1925, to [[Detroit|Detroit, Michigan]], where his father changed the family's name to Evans.<ref>Atkins, Ronald (December 30, 2013), [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/dec/30/yusef-lateef "Yusef Lateef obituary"], ''The Guardian''.</ref>

Throughout his early life, Lateef came into contact with many Detroit-based jazz musicians who gained 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 (genre)|swing]] bands. The first instrument he bought was an alto saxophone but after a year he switched to the tenor saxophone, influenced by the playing of [[Lester Young]].<ref>Marquard, Bryan (December 27, 2013), [https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/12/27/yusef-lateef-shutesbury-multi-instrumentalist-professor-umass-amherst-incorporated-world-influences-into-jazz/sDsCs4X2Ydq4ODxQsQLvmK/story.html "Dr. Yusef Lateef, 93; UMass professor embraced world music"], ''[[The Boston Globe]]''.</ref>

In 1949, he was invited by [[Dizzy Gillespie]] to tour with his orchestra. In 1950, Lateef returned to Detroit and began his studies in [[musical composition|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]]<ref name="about">{{Cite web | title=About Yusef Lateef | url=http://www.yuseflateef.com/index.php/about-yusef-lateef | work=Yuseflateef.com | publisher=FANA Music/YAL Records | access-date=December 5, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901175735/http://www.yuseflateef.com/index.php/about-yusef-lateef | archive-date=September 1, 2012 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> and changed his name.<ref name="Official website biography1">{{cite web|url=http://www.yuseflateef.com/about-yusef-lateef|title=About Yusef Lateef|year=2013|work=Official website|access-date=June 11, 2013}}</ref> He twice made the pilgrimage to [[Mecca]].<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10539421/Yusef-Lateef-obituary.html "Yusef Lateef – obituary"], ''The Telegraph'', December 27, 2013.</ref>

===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 Records|Prestige]] subsidiary New Jazz overlap with them. Musicians such as [[Wilbur Harden]] (trumpet, flugelhorn), bassist [[Herman Wright]], drummer [[Frank Gant]], and pianist [[Hugh Lawson (jazz pianist)|Hugh Lawson]] were among his collaborators during this period. In 1960, they played an extended gig at the Minor Key, a non-alcoholic club at Dexter and Burlingame in Detroit.<ref>[https://theconcertdatabase.com/venues/minor-key The Concert Database], ''the concert database", 1959. Retrieved January 31, 2022.</ref><ref>Duante Beddingfield. 
[https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/2021/09/04/kenny-barron-has-detroit-jazz-club-memories-go-back-decades/5725721001/ "Kenny Barron, due Saturday at jazz fest, has Motor City memories that go back decades"], ''[[Detroit Free Press]]'', September 21, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2022.</ref>

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 (musical instrument)|koto]] and a collection of [[Chinese flutes|Chinese wooden flutes]] and [[Chinese bell|bells]] along with his tenor and flute. {{citation needed|date=November 2022}} 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. Lateef made numerous contributions to other people's albums, including during his period as a member of saxophonist [[Cannonball Adderley]]'s Quintet during 1962–64.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

In the late 1960s, he began to incorporate [[soul music|contemporary soul]] and [[gospel music|gospel]] phrasing into his music (albeit with a strong blues underlay) on albums such as ''[[Yusef Lateef's Detroit|Detroit]]'' and ''[[Hush 'N' Thunder]]'', presaging the emergence of [[jazz fusion]]. Lateef expressed a dislike of the terms "jazz" and "jazz musician" as musical generalizations.<ref>Heckman, Don (December 24, 2013), [http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-yusef-lateef-20131225,0,7549278.story#axzz2q91pYM7K "Yusef Lateef dies at 93; Grammy winner blended jazz, world music"], ''Los Angeles Times''.</ref> As is so often the case with such generalizations, the use of these terms does understate the breadth of his sound. In the 1980s, Lateef experimented with [[New-age music|new-age]] and spiritual elements.

In 1960, Lateef returned to school, studying flute at the [[Manhattan School of Music]] in New York City. 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 received an [[Ed.D.]] from the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]]; his dissertation was a comparative study of Western and Islamic education. Thereafter, he served as a senior research fellow at the Center for Nigerian Cultural Studies at [[Ahmadu Bello University]] throughout the early 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Centennial Celebration of Yusef Lateef |url=https://fac.umass.edu/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=InSearchOfTheBeloved&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id= |access-date=2022-09-01 |website=fac.umass.edu}}</ref> Returning to the United States in 1986, he took a joint faculty appointment at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and [[Hampshire College]].

=== Later career ===
[[Image:Yusef Lateef 2.jpg|thumb|260px|right|Lateef performing in 2007 at the [[Detroit Jazz Festival]]]]
His 1987 album ''[[Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony]]'' won the [[Grammy Award for Best New Age Album|Grammy Award for Best New Age Recording]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Yusef Lateef |url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/yusef-lateef/10018 |website=Recording Academy |access-date=June 24, 2022 }}</ref><ref name="Official website biography1" /> His core influences, however, were clearly rooted in jazz, and in his own words: "My music is jazz."<ref>Jung, Fred, [http://www.jazzweekly.com/interviews/Ylateef.htm "A Fireside Chat With Yusef Lateef"], ''Jazz Weekly''.</ref>

In 1992, Lateef founded YAL Records. In 1993, he was commissioned by the [[Westdeutscher Rundfunk|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.<ref>{{cite web|title=The African American Epic Suite |url=https://yuseflateef.com/store/index.php?product/page/408/The+African+American+Epic+Suite |website=Yusef Lateef |access-date=June 30, 2022 }}</ref> The piece has since been performed by the [[Atlanta Symphony Orchestra]] and the [[Detroit Symphony Orchestra]].

In 2005, Nicolas Humbert & Werner Penzel, directors of ''Step Across The Border'', filmed Brother Yusef, in his wooden house in the middle of a forest in Massachusetts. In 2010, he received the lifetime [[NEA Jazz Masters|Jazz Master Fellowship Award]] from the [[National Endowment for the Arts]] (NEA), an independent federal agency.<ref name="Official website biography1"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://arts.endow.gov/honors/jazz/jmCMS/master.php?id=2010_06&type=bio |title=Lifetime Honors: 2010 NEA Jazz Master – Yusef Lateef| publisher=National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters |access-date=2010-11-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927170216/http://arts.endow.gov/honors/jazz/jmCMS/master.php?id=2010_06&type=bio|archive-date=September 27, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Established in 1982, the [[NEA Jazz Masters|National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters]] award is the highest honor given in jazz.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://arts.endow.gov/honors/jazz/jmCMS/JMbyYear.php|title=Lifetime Honors: NEA Jazz Masters 1982–2011|publisher=National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters |access-date=2010-11-10 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927170200/http://arts.endow.gov/honors/jazz/jmCMS/JMbyYear.php|archive-date=September 27, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

The Manhattan School of Music, where Lateef had earned a bachelor's and a master's degree, awarded him its Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012.

His last albums were recorded for [[Adam Rudolph]]'s Meta Records. To the end of his life, Lateef continued to teach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, [[Smith College]], and Hampshire College in western Massachusetts. Lateef died of prostate cancer on the morning of December 23, 2013, at the age of 93, survived by his wife, Ayesha, and son, Yusef.<ref>[http://www.gazettenet.com/home/9933070-95/yusef-lateef-grammy-winning-musician-composer-dies-at-93 "Yusef Lateef, Grammy-winning musician, composer, dies at 93"], Gazettenet.com, December 23, 2013.</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=December 25, 2013 |author=Angel Romero |title=Jazz and World Music Visionary Yusef Lateef Dies At 93 |url=https://worldmusiccentral.org/2013/12/25/jazz-and-world-music-visionary-yusef-lateef-dies-at-93/ |website=World Music Central |access-date=June 24, 2022 }}</ref>

Following his death, Lateef's family auctioned off many of his instruments, in the hopes that they would continue to be played. Woodwind player [[Jeff Coffin]] purchased Lateef's main tenor saxophone, as well as his [[bass flute]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=YUSEF LATEEF |url=http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/yusef-lateef |access-date=2022-09-01 |website=JazzMusicArchives.com |language=en}}</ref>

In October 2020, the UMass Fine Arts Center celebrated the centenary of Lateef's birth by producing "Yusef Lateef: A Centenary Celebration", a major online exhibit of his work curated by Glenn Siegel and others. The centenary includes "100 Responses to Yusef Lateef", a series of video tributes by many prominent artists and former Lateef collaborators and students.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Pfarrer|first=Steve|date=October 6, 2020|title=Marking the centenary of a remarkable artist: Virtual UMass program celebrates Yusef Lateef|url=https://www.gazettenet.com/Jazz-great-Yusef-Lateef-is-celebrated-through-virtual-program-at-UMass-Amherst-Fine-Arts-Center-36515670|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=January 15, 2021|website=Daily Hampshire Gazette}}</ref>