1960 · Album
The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef
Recorded 1960 · Riverside · Produced by Orrin Keepnews
Three Voices, One Restless Spirit
Lateef surrounded himself with strings and percussion, chasing timbral variety over conventional swing.
Yusef Lateef entered the studio in 1960 with an unusual ensemble: Herman Wright on bass, Lex Humphries on drums, Ron Carter on cello, and Hugh Lawson on celesta. The instrumentation alone signals Lateef's impatience with orthodox jazz groupings. No piano, no guitar—instead, the warmth of cello and the shimmer of celesta, players tasked with coloring the sound rather than driving it. Lateef, on tenor saxophone, occupied the foreground, but the arrangement forced him to think about dialogue instead of dominance.
The sessions produced music that resists easy filing. Lateef moves between angular bebop-influenced lines and slower, more meditative passages where the cello and celesta create an almost chamber-jazz atmosphere. These aren't the hard-swinging blowouts you'd expect from a saxophonist of his generation; instead, there's a deliberate coolness, a preference for space over density. Tracks breathe. Lawson's celesta adds an unexpected lightness—almost whimsical in moments—while Carter's cello grounds the music in something darker and more grounded. Humphries and Wright keep things propulsive without ever overwhelming the front line.
The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef (1960) occupies an odd corner of Lateef's catalog. It's neither a mainstream entry point nor a deep-cut curiosity; it's simply a musician at work, exploring instrumental combinations and refusing to repeat what others expected. Not a masterpiece, but a genuine artifact of mid-century jazz experimentation—proof that even in 1960, there were musicians still asking what a jazz group could sound like if you stepped outside the familiar blueprint.
Who's playing
Herman Wrightdouble bass
Yusef Lateeftenor saxophone
Lex Humphriesdrums
Ron Cartercello
Hugh Lawsoncelesta
