Music / Religion
Yusef Lateef
1920–2013 · jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator, author
Jazz saxophonist and flutist who grew up in Detroit, studied at Wayne State and blended jazz with Eastern sounds long before "world music" had a name.
- Born
Chattanooga, Tennessee- Died
Shutesbury, Massachusetts
aged 93- Birth name
- William Emanuel Huddleston
- Detroit years
- 1925–1960s
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Born William Huddleston in Chattanooga, Lateef moved with his family to Detroit in 1925, where his father changed the family name to Evans. He switched from alto to tenor saxophone as a student at Miller High School and grew up among future stars of Detroit jazz, including Milt Jackson, Paul Chambers, Elvin Jones and Kenny Burrell. After years on the road, including a stint with Dizzy Gillespie, he came back to Detroit in 1950 to study composition and flute at Wayne State University; in this period he joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and took the name Yusef Lateef. Through the 1950s he led bands in the city's modern-jazz scene, and in 1960 his group played an extended engagement at the Minor Key, an alcohol-free club at Dexter and Burlingame. His 1969 album Detroit, with tracks named for Belle Isle, Eastern Market and Bishop School, folded soul and gospel into jazz. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra later performed one of his orchestral works.
Highlights
- Pioneered the oboe, bassoon and non-Western flutes in jazz
- Album Detroit (1969) salutes city landmarks such as Belle Isle and Eastern Market
- Grammy for Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony (1987)
- NEA Jazz Master (2010)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 4
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1930s
Sidney D. Miller High School
Closed · 1922–2007
His high school, where he switched from alto to tenor saxophone. Miller was a high school until 1957 and a middle school until 2007; the building now houses University Prep Science and Math Elementary.
Studied here · 1950s
Wayne State University
He studied composition and flute here after returning to Detroit in 1950.
Performed here · 1960
The Minor Key
Closed
Alcohol-free jazz club on the west side where his group held an extended engagement in 1960.
Performed here · 1950s
Blue Bird Inn
Closed
West-side bar that became Detroit's leading bebop room by the late 1940s. He is among the modernists documented at the club. The Detroit Sound Conservancy bought the building in 2018; it became a local historic district in 2020 and is being restored as a venue and heritage center.