Yusef Lateef - Cantata (1995)

13 May, 23:41
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Artist: Yusef Lateef
Title: Cantata
Year Of Release: 1995
Label: Yal Records [YAL 010]
Genre: Jazz, Hard Bop
Quality: FLAC (tracks + .cue,log) | MP3/320 kbps
Total Time: 65:07
Total Size: 339 MB(+3%) | 154 MB(+3%)
WebSite: Album Preview

Tracklist

01. Acknowledgements, Air, Water, and Thought (Parlando) (5:20)
02. Instrumental Ritornello #1 (5:00)
03. Five Part Intuition and The Flight (Parlando) (6:18)
04. Hunting for a City (Acappella) (1:13)
05. Instrumental Ritornello #2 (5:27)
06. Hold Your Light (Acappella) (1:05)
07. Instrumental Ritornello #3 (2:49)
08. Bound to Go (Acappella) (2:25)
09. Wrestle On (Acappella) (1:51)
10. Plaque Party and Compassion Violation (Parlando) (2:48)
11. Instrumental Ritornello #4 (3:59)
12. Not Weary Yet (Acappella) (1:48)
13. Body Turn Around (Recitativo Secco) (3:42)
14. I Can't Stay Behind (Acappella) (2:07)
15. Instrumental Ritornello #5 (7:01)
16. I Hear from Heaven Today (Acappella) (2:23)
17. Instrumental Ritornello #6 (6:33)
18. Lay This Body Down (Acappella) (3:18)

personnel :

Yusef Lateef - flutes, tenor saxophone, Taiwan koto, thumb piano, Korg M1, vocals
Greg Snedeker - electronics

If listening to modern Yusef Lateef in a cosmic and electronic setting is your thing, then Cantata may very well knock you out. However, despite Dr. Lateef's wide-ranging, creative vision, Cantata is a work with many interesting and even compelling elements, but ultimately just misses the mark because there's too much going on. For starters, besides his usual array of tenor saxophone, various flutes, koto, thumb piano, and a Korg-1 synth, there is a narrative (hence the title) and other vocals that make this project seem, at the very least, ponderous. Lateef and electronic composer Greg Snedeker took all the played music, sampled it through a TS-12 synthesizer, and then messed with it. Different timbral elements were discovered in the combining of sounds, and machine and percussive elements were altered to resemble not themselves so much as otherworldly sonorities. Once the entire Cantata was recorded, and with the narrative and vocals, it was taken from the TS-12 and recorded onto a Macintosh computer. Why? Other than the ghostly timbres that only electronic sound and manipulation can provide, there seems no reason. The piece itself is a long, meandering, ponderous work that touches everything from Debussy to Webern to new age music. Over 18 selections, this listener was hopelessly loss and, unfortunately, lacked the desire to try to find his way back in.~Thom Jurek

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