Yusef Lateef
Yusef Lateef was a pioneering American jazz musician and composer known for his fusion of jazz with world music. As a multi-instrumentalist, he played not only the tenor saxophone but also unusual instruments such as the oboe, flute and various traditional instruments from Africa and Asia, adding new sound colours to jazz. His album ‘The African-American Epic Suite’ is considered groundbreaking for the integration of non-Western musical elements into jazz. Lateef was also a respected pedagogue and writer who worked intensively on music theory and published many compositions and books. He was honoured with numerous awards, including a Grammy, and remains a formative figure in the history of modern jazz despite his death in 2013.
