Yusef Lateef - Nocturnes (1989)
Yusef Lateef - Nocturnes (1989)
1 Warm Intensity 4:45 2 Estuary 2:34 3 Indefinite Expansion 2:34 4 Closed Space 5:12 5 Compassion Duration 4:56 6 Visible Particles 2:33 7 While On Earth 4:50 8 Elementary Substance 4:30 9 Soft Light 1:49 10 Life Property 2:39 11 Luminous Energy 2:37 12 Essential Element 5:27 Yusef Lateef - Casio, Ensoniq, Flutes, Keyboards, Oboe, Piano, Sax (Tenor) Christopher Salvo - Clarinet, Guest Artist Hugh Schick - Flugelhorn, Horn Patrick Tucker - French Horn
Yusef Lateef has always sought to extend the boundaries of musical expression. Continuing his quest for new vistas in jazz, Yusef Lateef's 1989 release NOCTURNES is a subtle, even brooding, musical project that uses sound colors and stark musical landscapes to create, above all else, a sense of darkness and nighttime. This music is largely programmatic. In fact, NOCTURNES is probably best summed up as a modern tone poem. The writing is gloomy and ominous, dissonant and angular. Yet, each track retains a distinctly gentle and placid disposition. Trumpeter Hugh Schick plays with a rich, full bodied and legato approach throughout and Lateef's own flute playing is often quite heartrending as he soliloquizes over his own piano and keyboard playing.
NOCTURNES is a perfect CD for late nights or dreary afternoons, Lateef and crew challenge our ears to enter into a world that is at once desolate and austere, yet pretty and serene. In short, this is mood music at its best. Highlights include "Compassion Duration" and "Warm Intensity." ---AllMusic Review
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