YUSEF LATEEF — The Golden Flute (review)

YUSEF LATEEF — The Golden Flute album cover Album · 1966 · Hard Bop Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Sean Trane
I believe this is Yusef’s last album for the Impulse label, and he’s in a quartet formation with Lawson on piano, Wright on bass and Brooks on drums. The album features a bunch of covers of standards, which IMHO don’t exactly fit with the Impulse “New Thing” image – so allow me to take the “!” away from this review.

Opening with Road Runner (written by Yusef about life on the road), Lawson’s piano and Lateef’s sax bounce over each other to make it vibrant. The following Straighten up is a reprise of Nat Cole, and it will be joined a little later by Lester Young’s slow ballad Ghost Of A Chance and a bit later Exactly Like You (with a rare oboe). The album’s title only starts to fulfil its promise with the Yusef-penned Oasis, which features the flute and a light and slightly mysterious eastern (Arabian) ambiance.

The flipside opens on the promising Yusef-penned Golden Flute, built on a JS Bach inspiration, where the flute returns with a haunting mysterious aura. Lawson’s Head Hunters is a brilliant piano-dominated piece and the closing 7-mins+ Brooks-penned Smart Set is an outstanding modal piece with all members cruising along, just interrupted by a short drum solo, only to return to its haunting pace.

Unfortunately, while the album contains a few magic pieces, it’s rather clear that most (if not all) 60’s jazz label still didn’t know how to build an Album (yes, with a big “A”). This writer kind of wishes that all the covers of this album would’ve been grouped on one side; while the quartet’s original composition (much more interesting – and not just IMHO, I believe) would’ve made the flipside. Oh, yeah: this album’s major flaw is that it doesn’t feature enough of the instruments it draws attention to: two tracks only, even if they’re the best two of this slice of wax, it’s a little too few for my tastes.

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