Yusef Lateef
Roots Run Deep
Roots Run Deep
Yusef Lateef was 83 years old when filmmakers Nicolas
Humbert and Werner Penzel spent a week at his home in Western Massachusetts,
resulting in the short documentary “Brother Yusef.” They recorded his
performances and meditations every day, leaving hours of performance material
off of their finished project. Nine
years later, Rogue Art has released a lovingly compiled collection of some of
those unused performances from that week, seamlessly blended into a brief,
flowing album that finds Lateef both playful and introspective.
The album is bookended by extended improvisations entitled
“Roots Run Deep” that feature a melancholy mix of vocals, piano and flute.
Lateef is the only performer on the album and it is his vocals that stand out
the most. A strained but honeyed knowingness imbues the entire project with a
relaxed wisdom. Four of the seven tracks feature Lateef reading short stories
from his 1975 book “Spheres.” Behind the brief but amusing “Cream Puff” Lateef
provides a honking tenor for his tale of his practicing limitations and the
daily procedures while “Goodbye” remains a largely unadorned reflection on
death until the end of the piece pops with descending sounds from his saxophone.
The most resounding piece on the album
features a repeated and spacious piano figure used throughout the record as Lateef
sings a slow and tragic rendition of the traditional blues standard “Motherless
Child.”
The CD package includes a 22-page booklet with remembrances of that week from the filmmakers, a
few words from Lateef, a handful of photographs and some sheet music. Now 92
years old, Lateef is still performing, no doubt still wrestling with many of
the themes he revisited in 2004 and originally conceived in 1975. It is a
beautiful project that is sadly far too short but serves as an intriguing
companion to the documentary.
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