Yusef Lateef • Atlantis Lullaby: The Concert From Avignon

Elemental Music 5990545
Two 180-gram LPs
2024

Music
Sound

by Marc Mickelson | August 7, 2024

usef Lateef was one of the great iconoclasts of jazz. His body of work defies easy categorization. Just when one recording seemed to define him, he headed off in a new direction. He was a first-rank tenor saxophonist who also played a host of other instruments, including some we all have heard of -- flute, oboe, and bassoon -- and some that are largely unknown -- tambora, koto, argol, and shanai. He made bop, hard-bop, ethnic, avant-garde, spiritual, and world-music recordings over the course of his nearly 60-year career. Even some of the titles -- Cry/Tender, The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef, The Centaur and the Phoenix -- imply that his music had multiple personalities.

As if on cue, Atlantis Lullaby, a live set from Avignon, France, captured in 1972, arrived to illustrate my point. The opener, "Inside Atlantis," with its chugging, urgent theme, gives way to a flute-piano duo, "A Flower," with its drawn-out phrasing and new-agey calm. Then comes "Yusef's Mood," over 17 minutes of high-energy swing and unexpected invention, followed by "Lowland Lullaby," a serene duet between bassist Bob Cunningham and drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath, who puts down his sticks and plays Indian flute.

All of that happens on just the first LP. The second kicks off with "Eboness," which Lateef announces as a vehicle for Cunningham. Its opening reminds me of Ramsey Lewis's "The 'In' Crowd," but Lateef takes the spotlight, again on flute, along with Cunningham on bowed bass. The ballad "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" has Lateef back on tenor. It begins slowly, dripping with emotion. While it may seem like the set's obligatory standard, at over 12 minutes, it is anything but standard, heavy with restraint and charm. The final cut is pianist Kenny Barron's "The Untitled." Barron provides inspiration and direction throughout the set -- three of the seven tunes are his. The 27-minute closer, which begins with a short spoken intro, in which Lateef calls it "an extended composition," takes us past musical vistas both familiar and new at breakneck speed -- until the pace slows to a crawl. "The Untitled" is cinematic in its scope and progression, a cut to study and savor. I've played it multiple times, sometimes in succession, and I'm still discovering its beautiful mysteries.

Atlantis Lullaby is yet another Zev Feldman find of previously unknown music. The New Yorker published a terrific short profile of Feldman; he is clearly doing what he loves -- digging up and releasing important jazz on LP. The music was restored and newly remastered from the original tapes, which come from the Institut national de l'audiovisuel in Paris. Matthew Lutthans cut the lacquers at The Mastering Lab, and the LPs were pressed at Memphis Record Pressing. The sound is big, dynamic and vivid, with impressive stereo spread. While there's no mention of who the recording engineer was, the sound is of professional quality to be sure. A booklet of background and information about the recording is de rigueur for Record Store Day (RSD) releases, and here it's one of the very best I've seen. It collects short interview excerpts from a plethora of significant musicians -- including Sonny Rollins, Reggie Workman, Joe Lovano, James Carter and Bennie Maupin -- a terrific longer essay from jazz writer Shannon Effinger, and recollections from two musicians who played on the recording, Kenny Barron and Albert Heath, along with a remembrance from Zev Feldman, who knew Lateef. There is also a photo of the cans in which the tapes are stored, emphasizing the provenance of the music.

Atlantis Lullaby was released for Record Store Day, April 20, 2024, in an edition of 2950, but copies are still available. Even among all of the special RSD releases, it's a standout -- for the music, the sound, and the booklet, with its stories and insight.