Yusef Lateef

In the early 1980s, famed saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist and musical luminary Yusef Lateef traveled to Nigeria as a Senior Research Fellow to study, write, and teach at the Centre For Nigerian Cultural Studies at Ahmadu Bello University. While there he cut this recording with students and local musicians at a small local press. It has been virtually unknown to fans and collectors for over 30 years. On Hikima, Lateef leads a nonet of African musicians in seven compositions that fuse his deep African-American roots with native Nigerian instruments, drums and chants. The sounds stretch from meditative and melancholic to urgent and unrelenting. A singular recording impossible to classify or confine.

"Lateef’s Hikima is immediately wayward, frenetic, radical, the kind of highlife you want to march to." - Yinka Elujoba

For more information about Dr. Lateef's research in Nigeria and his book, "The Musicians, Music & Musical Instruments of Northwestern Nigeria", please click here.

In the early 1980s, famed saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist and musical luminary Yusef Lateef traveled to Nigeria as a Senior Research Fellow to study, write, and teach at the Centre For Nigerian Cultural Studies at Ahmadu Bello University. While there he cut this recording with students and local musicians at a small local press. It has been virtually unknown to fans and collectors for over 30 years. On Hikima, Lateef leads a nonet of African musicians in seven compositions that fuse his deep African-American roots with native Nigerian instruments, drums and chants. The sounds stretch from meditative and melancholic to urgent and unrelenting. A singular recording impossible to classify or confine.

"Lateef’s Hikima is immediately wayward, frenetic, radical, the kind of highlife you want to march to." - Yinka Elujoba

For more information about Dr. Lateef's research in Nigeria and his book, "The Musicians, Music & Musical Instruments of Northwestern Nigeria", please click here.

In the early 1980s, famed saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist and musical luminary Yusef Lateef traveled to Nigeria as a Senior Research Fellow to study, write, and teach at the Centre For Nigerian Cultural Studies at Ahmadu Bello University. While there he cut this recording with students and local musicians at a small local press. It has been virtually unknown to fans and collectors for over 30 years. On Hikima, Lateef leads a nonet of African musicians in seven compositions that fuse his deep African-American roots with native Nigerian instruments, drums and chants. The sounds stretch from meditative and melancholic to urgent and unrelenting. A singular recording impossible to classify or confine.

"Lateef’s Hikima is immediately wayward, frenetic, radical, the kind of highlife you want to march to." - Yinka Elujoba

For more information about Dr. Lateef's research in Nigeria and his book, "The Musicians, Music & Musical Instruments of Northwestern Nigeria", please click here.

In the early 1980s, famed saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist and musical luminary Yusef Lateef traveled to Nigeria as a Senior Research Fellow to study, write, and teach at the Centre For Nigerian Cultural Studies at Ahmadu Bello University. While there he cut this recording with students and local musicians at a small local press. It has been virtually unknown to fans and collectors for over 30 years. On Hikima, Lateef leads a nonet of African musicians in seven compositions that fuse his deep African-American roots with native Nigerian instruments, drums and chants. The sounds stretch from meditative and melancholic to urgent and unrelenting. A singular recording impossible to classify or confine.

"Lateef’s Hikima is immediately wayward, frenetic, radical, the kind of highlife you want to march to." - Yinka Elujoba

For more information about Dr. Lateef's research in Nigeria and his book, "The Musicians, Music & Musical Instruments of Northwestern Nigeria", please click here.