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Yusef Lateef (born William Emmanuel Huddleston on October 9, 1920) is a Grammy Award-winning American jazz musician, academic, and author well known for incorporating Arabic and Eastern sounds into his musical offerings.

Early life

 * Yusef Lateef was born William Emmanuel Huddleston on October 9, 1920 in Chattanooga, Tennessee (note that some biographers have his name as William Evans). In 1924 or 1925 his family moved to Detroit, Michigan and his father changed the family's last name to Evans, never having given a reason for doing so. When he was eight years old his parents separated and he lived with his grandfather for four years, eventually moving back with his father at twelve. Having displayed an appreciation for music at a young age, Evans knew he wanted to be either a musician or athlete. He was coached in boxing as an amateur by Eddie Futch from age twelve to eighteen. Yet, even while showing an aptitude for athleticism, his true love was music.


 * His first music teacher advised the young Evans to take up the oboe (this was before he had his own saxophone). He began to take his saxophone playing seriously in 1938, studying the instrument at Sydney D. Miller High School. One of his classmates at the high school was vibraphonist Milt Jackson. In 1941 he graduated from Miller, and soon after married his first wife Sadie (maiden name Harper).

Career
In 1949, recording under his name Bill Evans, Lateef performed with the big bands of Sonny Stitt (with his Bama State Collegians), Lucky Millinder, Ernie Fields and, perhaps most notably, Dizzy Gillespie. He recorded with Gillespie in the spring of 1949 but then returned to Detroit in 1950 or 1951 because of his wife Sadie's illness. In 1950 or 1951, after having formally adopted Islam as his religion in 1948, Evans took the Muslim name Yusef Lateef and also changed the names of his two children (Iqbal and Rasheed). Evans first became interested in Islam in 1946 in Chicago, meeting a trumpet player who was practicing the religion as a member of the Ahmadiyya movement. Having expressed an interest the religion, the trumpeter then gave him literature on Islam and Evans began attending a mosque in Chicago. In Detroit he became a sideman for pianist Floyd Taylor for a number of years and also played with Matthew Rucker as a sideman. He quickly became the known star of the two bands, and was touted to be "the Sax Man with the Turban." In 1953 or 1954 Lateef would play saxophone for Kenny Burrell's Four Sharps sometimes, in addition to Frank Foster and Pepper Adams. He began attending Wayne University after returning home and was vice president of the New Music Society by 1955, performing with his own groups sometimes at the Detroit Institute of Arts. He was also a member of Alvin Jackson's group at this time, performing with his group until 1956.

In April 1956 Lateef formed his first quintet for performances at George Klein's Show Bar in Detroit—an ensemble which stayed together for three years. While the personnel changed occasionally, some of the musicians in the quintet included Ernie Farrow and Will Austin on double bass, Hugh Lawson and Terry Pollard on piano, Louis Hayes on drums, Frank Morelli on baritone saxophone and flute, Curtis Fuller on trombone and Wilbur Harden on flügelhorn. Lateef began performing on the flute in 1956, having taken the advice of his friend Kenny Burrell, and also began playing the oboe that following year. In 1957 Lateef began recording with The Yusef Lateef Quintet for Savoy Records, making six LPs by the end of that year. Already during this period Lateef's music was hinting at Middle Eastern influences. In April 1959 Klein's club changed its name to Club 12 and also brought in new management, who by August had implemented a policy of only booking big names at the club—leaving the quintet searching for work. After several personnel changes during this late period, Lateef's first quintet eventually disbanded in October of that year. In November 1959 Lateef became a member of a quartet backing Sonny Stitt and was performing once again at Club 12, yet by early 1960 he had decided to relocate to New York due to the slow music scene in Detroit. Members of his quintet made the trip with him, though work for them was infrequent and some of them soon left. Not long after moving to New York Lateef became a member of the Charles Mingus ensemble. He became active as a sideman during this period, receiving the most recognition after joining the Cannonball Adderley Sextet in 1962. Jazz critic Scott Yanow considers this group to be the finest Adderley led ensemble ever. In January 1964 Lateef left Adderley's sextet and was replaced by Charles Lloyd.

In 1973 Lateef entered the University of Massachusetts Amherst to do his doctoral work on education and was also taking classes on symbolic logic at Columbia University, requiring him to frequently commute between New York and Massachusetts. His dissertation at Amherst was titled An Overview of Western and Islamic Education, which he worked on from 1972 to 1975. In 1973 Lateef married his second wife, Tahira—a college student he met in 1971 at Chicago State University working on her masters degree in art. The couple had a son together in 1975, naming the boy Yusef (Lateef was 54 at the time). In 1975 his dissertation was accepted and, since he was playing with his quartet on the road, his diploma was sent to him by mail. In 1981 Lateef finished his first symphony titled The Tahira Symphony. In August of that year he and his family moved to Zaria, Nigeria, where he had accepted a position as a senior research fellow at Ahmadu Bello University. His research assignment was on the Sarewi flute and he worked out of the university's Center of Nigerian Cultural Studies. While there he also taught research methodology to cultural officers and became acquainted with many of the musicians and dramatists at the Center. Through his encounters with the various cultures of Nigeria, Lateef developed an appreciation for the various distinctions between musical styles of African American musicians back in the United States—just something he noticed through direct observation. He also served as a musical consultant while there for a production of Queen Amina, and the company he worked with was later invited to the Festival of Nations in Sofia, Bulgaria. Lateef was also commissioned by the minister of culture in Nigeria to write a book with dramatist Ziky O. Kofoworola which came to be titled Hausa Performing Arts and Music. Before leaving Nigeria, in 1984, Yusef recorded the album In Nigeria for Landmark Records in an effort to convey his experiences there through music. On the album are various vocalists of Nigeria.


 * In 1985 Lateef and his family returned to Massachusetts and in October of that year he retired from doing daytime work and started performing exclusively at non-alcoholic venues. He spent most of his time composing during this period,

Awards

 * 1988 Grammy Award in the Best New Age Performance category for the album Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony
 * 1999 Arts Achievement Award from Wayne State University
 * 2001 International Achievement Award from ArtServe Michigan for lifetime achievements
 * 2007 Jazz Guardian Award from the Detroit International Jazz Festival