Yusef Lateef • Hush 'N' Thunder

 

Review
by Thom Jurek  
Recorded four years after Detroit, Yusef Lateef's Hush 'N' Thunder is a restless, wildly varied set, focusing on two aspects of his composing and playing methodology that have usually been showcased separately -- at least on his records. One is his R&B background, which comes off with a serious, down-home relativism that echoes both the Deep South of his upbringing and the mores trident big city versions of Chicago, Detroit, and New York. The other aspect of Lateef's musical character this album explores is his complex gift for melodic and chromatic arrangement. Lateef's penchant for compelling and unusual modal and melodic schematics as a composer is well-documented on his Prestige and Impulse sides, but has never been realized in setting where he played other people's music (he composed only one track here). Here, with the help of musicians as diverse as Ray Bryant, Kenny Barron, Bill Salter, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Kermit Moore, and Cornell Dupree, just to name a few, Lateef takes both bulls by the horns and alternates and combines them in new and unusual ways. Kenny Barron is the album's primary composer, and it is on his "The Hump" and R&B strutter that you get the first taste of Lateef's movement toward combinatory science: The front line consists of Lateef and Jimmy Owens on flügelhorn, with Barron, bassist Bob Cunnigham, and Heath on drums. What begins in standard cut time in I-IV-V progression begins to groove toward other dimensions in time sequencing in the solos. Shades of beat shifting and chameleon-like tempo are everywhere, even as the groove builds in intensity. Barron's "Prayer," a long, improvised cadenza that is as pastoral as a Vaughan Williams symphony, eventually mutates seamlessly into a blues groove driven by both Barron and Ray Bryant on piano and Salter's deeply funky bass groove. Lateef's solos on the pneumatic flute and Shennai are distorted, moaning, played from the heart of a different series of tonalities. The album closes with the meditative, slowly evolving "Destination Paradise," where Lateef's flute encounters three guitarists all engaging different modalities and playing a slow, subtle counterpoint as the rhythm section establishes a line that neither builds or dispels the tension. This album showcases Dr. Lateef heading for new musical frontiers as an interpreter and arranger and a deeply lyrical series of meditations on rhythm and melody.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/hush-n-thunder-mw0000224208

///////

Reseña
por Thom Jurek
Grabado cuatro años después de Detroit, Hush 'N' Thunder de Yusef Lateef es un conjunto inquieto y tremendamente variado, que se centra en dos aspectos de su metodología de composición y ejecución que generalmente se han exhibido por separado, al menos en sus discos. Uno es su experiencia en R&B, que se desprende de un relativismo serio y hogareño que se hace eco tanto del sur profundo de su educación como de las versiones más tridentes de las grandes ciudades de Chicago, Detroit y Nueva York. El otro aspecto del carácter musical de Lateef que explora este álbum es su complejo don para los arreglos melódicos y cromáticos. La inclinación de Lateef por los esquemas melódicos y modales convincentes e inusuales como compositor está bien documentada en sus lados Prestige e Impulse, pero nunca se ha realizado en el entorno donde tocó la música de otras personas (compuso solo una pista aquí). Aquí, con la ayuda de músicos tan diversos como Ray Bryant, Kenny Barron, Bill Salter, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Kermit Moore y Cornell Dupree, solo por nombrar algunos, Lateef toma ambos toros por los cuernos, los alterna y los combina. en formas nuevas e inusuales. Kenny Barron es el compositor principal del álbum, y es en su "The Hump" y R&B que se obtiene la primera muestra del movimiento de Lateef hacia la ciencia combinatoria: La primera línea consiste en Lateef y Jimmy Owens en fliscorno, con Barron, el bajista Bob Cunnigham y Heath en la batería. Lo que comienza en el tiempo de corte estándar en la progresión I-IV-V comienza a moverse hacia otras dimensiones en la secuencia de tiempo en los solos. Sombras de cambio de ritmo y tempo camaleónico están en todas partes, incluso cuando el ritmo aumenta en intensidad. "Prayer" de Barron, una cadencia larga e improvisada que es tan pastoral como una sinfonía de Vaughan Williams, eventualmente muta a la perfección en un ritmo de blues impulsado por Barron y Ray Bryant en el piano y el ritmo de bajo profundamente funky de Salter. Los solos de Lateef en la flauta neumática y Shennai son distorsionados, gimiendo, tocados desde el corazón de una serie diferente de tonalidades. El álbum se cierra con el meditativo "Destination Paradise", que evoluciona lentamente, donde la flauta de Lateef se encuentra con tres guitarristas que tocan diferentes modalidades y tocan un contrapunto lento y sutil mientras la sección rítmica establece una línea que ni construye ni disipa la tensión. Este álbum muestra al Dr. Lateef dirigiéndose hacia nuevas fronteras musicales como intérprete y arreglista y una serie profundamente lírica de meditaciones sobre el ritmo y la melodía.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/hush-n-thunder-mw0000224208

yuseflateef.com ...

 

Tracks:
1 - Come Sunday - 2:34
2 - The Hump - 4:43
3 - Opus PT 1 - Opus PT II - 7:59
4 - The Old Building - 2:39
5 - Prayer - 3:13
6 - Sunset - 7:51
7 - His Eye Is On Sparrow - 5:31
8 - Destination Paradise - 3:48


Credits:
    Arranged By – Kenny Barron (tracks: A2, A3, B1), Yusef Lateef (tracks: A1, A4, B2, B3, B4)
    Bass – Bob Cunningham, Gordine Edwards*
    Cello – Kermit Moore
    Design – Ira Friedlander
    Drums – Kuumba "Tootie" Heath*
    Electric Bass – Bill Salter*
    Engineer [Recording, Atlantic Recording Studios, New York, N.Y.] – Gene Paul, Lew Hahn
    Engineer [Recording, Remix, Regent Sound Studios, New York, N.Y.] – Bob Liftin
    Engineer [Remix, Atlantic] – Jimmy Douglass
    Flugelhorn – Jimmy Owens
    Guitar – Cornell Dupree, David Spinozza, Keith Loving
    Lacquer Cut By – GP*
    Organ – Alfred White
    Other [Production Associate] – Jack Shaw
    Photography By – Jim Cummins (2)
    Piano – Kenny Barron, Ray Bryant
    Producer – Joel Dorn
    Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Shanai, Flute [Pneumatic Flute] – Yusef Lateef
    Vocals – Monroe "Bones" Constantino, The J.C. White Singers

Label:    Atlantic – SD 1635
Country:    US
Released:    1973
Genre:    Jazz
Style:    Fusion
https://www.discogs.com/release/2022913-Yusef-Lateef-Hush-N-Thunder

This file is intended only for preview!
I ask you to delete the file from your hard drive or device after reading it.
thank for the original uploader