Album of the Day

Don't be fooled by the title: THE COMPLETE YUSEF LATEEF isn't a multi-disc career retrospective, but rather a studio set by the esteemed jazz man. Lateef's first album for Atlantic Records following a string of releases for Savoy and Impulse offered a "complete" overview of the performer's musical outlook through seven songs covering an impressive amount of stylistic ground. The jazz here is flavored with Eastern sounds ("Rosalie"), blues ("In the Evening") and New Orleans R&B ("Kongsberg"), and also includes "Stay With Me," a lovely ballad drawn from a film score (to The Cardinal). THE COMPLETE YUSEF LATEEF was cut with producer Joel Dorn fifty years ago but its inviting approach still sounds fresh, and the collection remains among the saxophonist's best.