Yusef Lateef, Islam, and jazz

Abstract

ABSTRACT A notable characteristic of the jazz scene of 1940s–1960s North America was the large number of African American musicians who converted to Islam. Focusing on the case of the jazz saxophonist and scholar Yusef Lateef (1920–2013), alongside an extensive and newly created list of many other musician converts, this article explores some of the social, historical, and religious factors underlying this phenomenon. It is argued that Islamic conversion and the rise of Bebop should be understood in the context of the polemics of Black philosophers and leaders, such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Alain Locke, and Marcus Garvey—a point not adequately addressed in previous scholarship. The complexities and contradictions surrounding the conversion of jazz musicians are also explored. These include the negotiation of Islamic attitudes to music, and instances of the negation of Black identity, but also examples of deep commitment to the Islamic faith, spirituality, and proselytisation (da’wa). Lateef, in particular, is shown to have created an Islamic jazz amalgam that incorporated ‘Eastern’ elements into his ‘autophysiopsychic music’ (his preferred term for ‘jazz’).