Yusef Lateef
tenor saxophone, flute
Yusef Lateef was a tenor saxophonist and flautist who came up in Detroit, some nine years older than Barry; he came to Barry’s house, took lessons from him, and was a bandmate both in Detroit and later in New York.
- mentions
- 17
- recordings
- 14
- Barry speaking
- 5
What Barry says
Yusef is among the Detroit musicians Barry names as coming to his house, with Donald Byrd, Roland Hanna, Sonny Red and Kiane Zawadi. Barry says they jammed all day and had a ball.
The last train to Monk: an interview8:26Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle18:13Ep.3 | Everything no one has ever told you about jazz | Barry Harris0:33Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶32
Barry counts Yusef Lateef among those who took lessons from him in Detroit, alongside Joe Henderson, Kirk Lightsey and the Motown bassist James Jamerson.
Asked how his method began, Barry says the improvisation side started when he worked a steady gig with Yusef and Bernard McKinney. The band practised every week, Barry felt they needed something to practise, and he made up rules for it that he says have lasted ever since.
Barry says Yusef was part of his life in the 1950s. He recalls that he, Yusef and Elvin Jones played at the Bluebird, and in a Detroit TV programme he names Yusef, with Billy Mitchell, among those he played with there.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future32:32Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶139Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶188
Going through his discography, Barry recalls a 1955 Detroit recording with Yusef, Bernard McKinney and Frank Gant for the Transition label, and a Yusef Lateef sextet date with voices that he does not remember at all.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶287Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶289Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶300
After leaving Cannonball Adderley’s band, Barry found work in New York with Yusef, who had a few gigs, while also playing duo jobs at Junior’s, a bar near Birdland.
Barry tells students that today’s horn players all sound alike, unlike Prez, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster or Lockjaw Davis, who each had a sound of their own. Nobody can imitate Yusef Lateef, he says.
Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - Student Interviews After Concert11:48
Talking about tenor players such as Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and Dexter Gordon, Barry adds that they also had Wardell Gray, Gene Ammons and Yusef Lateef, players who could play too.
In his own words
The improvisation part, that started years ago. That started when I was working with Yusef and Bernard McKennie.
So I made up some stuff for us to practice, some rules. And those rules have lasted all through all these years
Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, all them cats had different sounds ... can’t nobody imitate Yusef Lateef
Yusef Lateef started taking lessons, Kirk Lightsey learned from me.
Yusef was part of my life in the ‘50s.
Every mention
17 moments in the recordings, 5 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - Student Interviews After Concert
- 11:48
Older horn players each had their own sound; nobody can imitate Yusef Lateef.
The last train to Monk: an interview
- 8:26
Yusef is among the musicians who all came to Barry’s house.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle
Ep.3 | Everything no one has ever told you about jazz | Barry Harris
- 0:33
Yusef Lateef is among the young musicians who came to Barry’s house to practise jazz.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future
- 32:32
Barry played at the Bluebird with Yusef Lateef (captions: ‘use of claw teeth’) and Billy Mitchell.
Barry Harris Funeral
- 41:58
Someone else
A funeral speaker knew Barry’s concept through teachers such as Yusef Lateef, who had studied it.
The Great Pianist Barry Harris’ Funeral At Abyssinian Baptist Church In Harlem
- 28:30
Someone else
The same funeral tribute in another recording: Lateef among teachers who studied Barry’s concept.
Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - Introduction by Gary Giddins
- 2:31
Someone else
Gary Giddins mentions the pianist Hugh Lawson, who worked a lot with Yusef Lateef.
12-15-18 “Mr. Barry Harris aka The Man Who Walks on Notes” - Star Eyes
- 3:13
Someone else
A concert introduction says Barry worked in the 1960s and 70s with fellow Detroiter Yusef Lateef.
Barry Harris Spanish TV
- 16:11
Someone else
A Spanish TV narrator says Barry’s next work after Cannonball Adderley was with Lateef.
Interview: tap dance and bebop
- 26:08
Someone else
A Brazilian podcast host lists Lateef among players Barry worked with in New York.
Barry Harris Workshop Madrid 2018
- 0:00
Someone else
A Madrid workshop introduction lists Lateef among musicians Barry played with.
JAZZ NOTES 026 | Jazz Biography | Jazz From Detroit Pt 2 | Jazz Radio
In the interviews and notes
Barry says Joe Henderson and Yusef Lateef came and took lessons with him, and Kirk Lightsey and James Jamerson learned from him too, as signs that most Detroit musicians came through him.
Barry traces his rules for practising improvisation to a steady gig with Yusef and Bernard McKinney: they practised weekly, he felt they needed material, and the rules he made up then are, he says, still the best.
JazzTimes names Lateef’s Eastern Sounds among the canonical records with Barry at the piano, and an All About Jazz profile lists it, dated 1961, in its recommended listening for Barry.
unknown (JazzTimes; the byline is missing on the current site), Barry Harris: Teacher Man ¶4Andrew Velez, Barry Harris: A Thousand Percent Music Man ¶21
Recalling his Bluebird rhythm section, Barry says he, Elvin Jones and Yusef played there, and that he played with Yusef and with Kiane Zawadi.
From his discography Barry reads out a 1955 Detroit recording with Yusef Lateef, Bernard McKinney and Frank Gant, which he agrees was for Transition.
After leaving Cannonball, Barry says, he worked with Yusef, who had a few gigs, and began a duo job at Junior’s on 52nd Street.
Barry places Yusef Lateef’s departure from Detroit, along with Paul Chambers and many other fine players, around the time he himself went back to Detroit after Max Roach and joined up with Cannonball Adderley.
When Panken mentions Barry’s Bluebird stint with Yusef and Elvin Jones, Flanagan remembers Yusef also playing Klein’s Show Bar, where Pepper Adams and Paul Chambers played too.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶45Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶46
The producer Don Schlitten remembers seeing Barry with Yusef Lateef long ago, and his records with Lateef around 1960; he thinks Barry’s touch was lighter then and that he had not yet found himself.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶184
Cleary first heard of Barry in Yusef Lateef’s improvisation class at Hampshire College, where Lateef introduced himself as one of Barry’s students who would pass on what Barry had shown him.
Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), What is this scale called: Charlie Parker ¶9
Recordings that name them
Barry’s performances and records in the archive that credit or name them.
- Donald Byrd · Blues (transcription) Bb2024, 1 min YouTube
- Sassy Ann - Louis Hayes Quintet2021, 4 min YouTube
- Back Yard - Louis Hayes Quintet2021, 6 min YouTube
- Rip De Boom - Louis Hayes Quintet2021, 5 min YouTube
- Hazing - Louis Hayes Quintet2021, 4 min YouTube
- Ep.3 | Everything no one has ever told you about jazz | Barry Harrisn.d., 12 min YouTube
- Love Theme From Spartacus - Yusef Lateef2021, 10 min YouTube
- Donald Byrd sextet Yusef Lateef Barry Harris -Everything Happens to Me2020, 6 min YouTube
- 12-15-18 “Mr. Barry Harris aka The Man Who Walks on Notes” - Star Eyes2018, 15 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Spanish TVMadrid, 1988, 47 min YouTube
- Yusef Lateef - Love Theme From Spartacus2009, 4 min YouTube
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.