Musical Arts/Sound Laboratory

YUSEF A. LATEEF
www.yuseflateef.com
Born William Evans, 9 October 1920, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. Raised in Detroit, Michigan, Lateef began playing tenor saxophone in his late teens. In New York in the mid-40s he played in bands led by Lucky Millinder, Roy Eldridge and other leading jazz musicians of the swing era, but later in the decade, in Chicago, he played with Dizzy Gillespie. Thereafter, his work was consciously modern in style. In the mid-50s he adopted the Muslim faith and took the name by which he is now known. He led several small bands during this period and also began to play flute. At the end of the decade he was again in New York, this time working with leading modernists amongst whom were Charles Mingus and Cannonball Adderley. He also led his own groups for public performance and record dates. In the 70s and 80s Lateef extended the number of instruments upon which he performed, now including the oboe and bassoon and also a wide range of similar Asian and African reeds. He revealed himself as a gifted performer on all these instruments and later recordings showed an increasing interest in various ethnic musical forms, sometimes - not always - fused with jazz, and crossing over into new age mood music. In addition to his performing career in music he has also taught music and has lately become proficient as a writer and painter. From the early 90s he has recorded on his own YAL label.
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			mas-lab musical arts/sound laboratory
	main press projects egg ensemble sponsors donate shop about		LOS ANGELES MUSIC STUDIO (LAMStu) presents its first public season with the world premiere of Yusef Lateef’s String Quartet No. 1 (Bismilah), co-presented with CalArts and CalArts’ REDCAT, February 4, 2005. Follow the links below for details and downloadable press materials. COMPOSER STRING QUARTET BIOGRAPHIES Robin Lorentz Johnny Chang Mark Menzies Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick PRESS MATERIALS
			YUSEF A. LATEEF www.yuseflateef.com Born William Evans, 9 October 1920, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. Raised in Detroit, Michigan, Lateef began playing tenor saxophone in his late teens. In New York in the mid-40s he played in bands led by Lucky Millinder, Roy Eldridge and other leading jazz musicians of the swing era, but later in the decade, in Chicago, he played with Dizzy Gillespie. Thereafter, his work was consciously modern in style. In the mid-50s he adopted the Muslim faith and took the name by which he is now known. He led several small bands during this period and also began to play flute. At the end of the decade he was again in New York, this time working with leading modernists amongst whom were Charles Mingus and Cannonball Adderley. He also led his own groups for public performance and record dates. In the 70s and 80s Lateef extended the number of instruments upon which he performed, now including the oboe and bassoon and also a wide range of similar Asian and African reeds. He revealed himself as a gifted performer on all these instruments and later recordings showed an increasing interest in various ethnic musical forms, sometimes - not always - fused with jazz, and crossing over into new age mood music. In addition to his performing career in music he has also taught music and has lately become proficient as a writer and painter. From the early 90s he has recorded on his own YAL label. top
			STRING QUARTET 1st VIOLIN ROBIN LORENTZ has been a featured violinist on tour with composers Terry Riley and John Luther Adams and a member of the noted new music ensemble California E.A.R. Unit since 1984. She is a featured performer in the Santa Fe Pro Musica and has served as concertmaster on the L.A. Philharmonic's Green Umbrella series and at the Ojai Festival. She gave the world premiere of John Adams' Road Movies at the Kennedy Center and the premiere of Virko Baley's Kolimayaka, a Dance for solo violin at Carnegie Hall. An accomplished arranger and composer as well as a versatile instrumentalist, Ms. Lorentz is co-writer with composer Eve Beglarian on a series of Stephen King audio books for Penguin Publishing, while her solo violin playing has been featured in such motion pictures as Other People's Money and Back To The Future III as well as television series Northern Exposure and the Gilmore Girls. Ms. Lorentz can be heard as soloist on the recent re-recording of Bob Dylan’s Another Cup of Coffee for the Road, Sophie B. Hawkins Timbre, Scott Weiland’s (Stone Temple Pilots) soon-to-be-released solo recording, and as part of the string duo featured on the recent recordings of T-Bone Burnett. Her live performances include Aeorosmith’s performance at the Grammy Awards, with the late Dusty Springfield and tours with John Cale. Ms. Lorentz has recorded for New Albion, Cold Blue, New World, O.O.Discs, Sony, MCA, Columbia, Echograph, and Glenfinnian Records. She has served on the faculty at the California Institute of the Arts and currently acts as Assistant Concert Master to the Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay. top 2nd VIOLIN JOHNNY CHANG received his Masters of Fine Arts in contemporary performance from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Johnny has worked extensively as a soloist and chamber musician. He is a passionate supporter of new music that extends far beyond the conventional, commissioning and performing works by established and emerging composers. Mr. Chang has performed with New Zealand based contemporary music ensembles Stroma and 175 East, the latter presenting most notably Michael Finnissy's ...Above Earth’s Shadow and its first recording. In December 2002, he performed at Weill Recital Hall, New York City with Ensemble Sospeso in their Brian Ferneyhough Perspective Concert. A few months later, Mr. Chang toured with Pasadena’s Southwest Chamber Music to New York City and Vienna, Austria culminating in performances at the Schoenberg Institute. Most recently, Johnny was invited to perform John Cage’s 19’37.988” for a violinist at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), for a concert in connection with an exhibition entitled, “Beyond Geometry, Experiments in Form 1940-70’s”. In addition to performing, Johnny is pursuing an MFA in composition at CalArts. He recently completed a duo for cello and French horn, Modulations and Interludes which was premiered at ARTSaha!, curated by the Analog Arts Ensemble (www.analogartsensemble.net). The revised version for solo cello, Modulations, and Modulatory Synchronicty I (for violin and harmonica) was performed on December 12th at Roy. O. Disney Hall, CalArts in a concert titled, "Scripted Journeys", including new music by Zachary Scott, Eric Clark and Luigi Nono's violin duo "Hay que caminar" sognando with violinist Mark Menzies. In the spring of 2005, Mr. Chang will be involved with the world premiere performance and recording of a string quartet by Yusef Lateef as part of the composer/performer collective, Los Angeles Music Studio (www.LAMstu.org). Also planned are two Microscores & 30-Second Music concerts with cellist Jessica Catron, premiering new works of composers from the US and abroad (January 24th, linespaceline @ Selah and February 27th @ ROD, CalArts respectively). top VIOLA MARK MENZIES has resided in the United States since 1991 and has established an important, world-wide reputation as a new music violist and violinist. He has been described in a Los Angeles Times review, as an 'extraordinary musician' and a 'riveting violinist.' At 45 years, his career as a viola and violin virtuoso, chamber musician and advocate of contemporary music, has seen performances in Great Britain, Germany, France, Austria, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand and across the United States, including a series of appearances at New York's Carnegie Hall. Mark Menzies is renowned for performing some of the most complex scores so far written and he has been personally recommended by composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, Roger Reynolds, Michael Finnissy, Vinko Globokar…There has been considerable international critical applause for Mark Menzies' leadership in ensembles formed to perform contemporary and twentieth century, such as the Bloomington-based New Vienna Ensemble, Los Angeles's Southwest Chamber Music, San Diego's Sirius Ensemble and the New York-based Ensemble Sospeso. It was with Ensemble Sospeso that he organized a joint venture with the California Institute of the Arts to present the first professional concerts in the US dedicated to Brian Ferneyhough’s music in December 2002. At present, Mark Menzies is in the process of initiating a new collective ensemble based in Los Angeles, called inauthentica. Mark Menzies is featured on a large number of CD recordings. This includes ‘Process and Passion’, a Pogus label release of chamber music by Roger Reynolds, as well as the world premiere recording of '...above earth's shadow' by Michael Finnissy to be released shortly. Mark Menzies is a National Recording Artist of Radio New Zealand for whom he has made numerous studio recordings. Mark Menzies is currently viola and violin professor at the California Institute of the Arts where he also teaches chamber music; he is also program advisor to CalArts and RedCat. top CELLO ERIKA DUKE-KIRKPATRICK, cellist, is an active soloist, chamber musician, and specialist in contemporary music. She has performed in premieres of solo and chamber works throughout the US, Central and South America, and Europe with appearances at New Music America, the Manca Festival in Nice, Ars Electronica in Linz, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Computer Music Festival in Zurich, Tanglewood, Aspen, and Ravinia festivals, and the San Francisco Symphony "New and Unusual Music" series. Ms. Kirkpatrick has had works written especially for her by major composers including Mel Powell, Alvin Lucier, Elliott Carter, and Morton Subotnick, with whom she has toured and recorded since 1981. Ms. Kirkpatrick is also solo cellist of the Santa Fe Pro Musica, and was principal cellist of the 1986 Ojai Festival Orchestra and the Bloch Festival Orchestra at Newport, Oregon. A founding member of the Ear Unit, she is on the faculty at California Institute of the Arts and the University of California at San Diego. Ms. Kirkpatrick has recorded for Nonesuch, Wergo, New Albion, Voyager, and Cold Blue records. top
			PRESS MATERIALS All materials are copyright LAMSTu/MAS-Lab and may be used only with express written permission of the organization. Mac users: option-click to download files. Win users: right-click to download. YUSEF LATEEF'S BIOGRAPHY (.rtf document) YUSEF LATEEF'S PHOTOGRAPH (high resolution .jpg) BIOGRAPHIES OF THE STRING QUARTET (.rtf document) LOS ANGELES MUSIC STUDIO STATEMENT (.rtf document) top