An acclaimed jazz musician and composer who broke boundaries, crossed cultures
and melded genres, Yusef Lateef created "world music" before it was even a
recognised term and went on to win a Grammy Award. Born William Emanuel
Huddleston and raised in Ohio, he cut his teeth as a saxophone player in swing
bands in the 1940s and toured with Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra before converting
to Islam in 1950, when he changed his name to Yusef Lateef. His debut album The
Sounds Of Yusef (1957) was full of lively be-bop jazz, but he developed his
sound to include influences he'd experienced...