BELMONDO - YUSEF LATEEF

BELMONDO - YUSEF LATEEF
INFLUENCE (2005)
320 KBPS

The legendary hard-bop musician Yusef Lateef was asked by 2 young French jazzmen (Stéphane and Lionel Belmondo) to come to Paris to record with them. The result is this 2 CD set, with the 1st CD composed by Lionel Belmondo and Christophe Del Sasso while the 2nd one includes 6 Lateef's compositions and features Glenn Ferris (trombone) as a guest musician. No surprise, the 1st CD shows heavy classical music influences: this is the trademark of the Belmondo brothers, who have won a few awards and critical's respect here in Europe. Actually, there are a few sections where you feel like listening to chamber music "à la jazz" which is very nice.
The rest of the album is what you could expect by looking at the back cover: something like Lateef's Centaur & The Phoenix with more musicians and more tracks. The arrangements are very elaborated and the solos are goods. The reeds section includes flute, oboe, bassoon, tuba, clarinet, French horn and English horn. I especially appreciate Laurent Flickelson on piano, but actually anyone is playing perfectly here. Yusef Lateef plays almost only flute, along with oboe on "Brother John" and tenor sax on 2 tracks.

Disc 1
1. Shafaa
2. Si Tout Ceci N'Est Qu'Un Pauvre Rêve
3. Après Le Jeu
4. Influence
5. Orgatique

Disc 2
1. An Afternoon In Chatanooga
Suite Overtime
2. I. Morning
3. II. Metaphor
4. III. Iqbal
5. IV. Brother John
6. Le Jardin