Eastern Sounds is a studio album by the jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer Yusef Lateef. It was released in April 1962 through Prestige Records on their Moodsville imprint.[1] The recording was made in September 1961. The album features Lateef's continued exploration of Middle Eastern music, which were incorporated into his version of hard bop with a quartet featuring Barry Harris on piano. The opening track features Lateef on Chinese globular flute,[4] generally called xun.[5] The fusing of musical genres was not a new thing in jazz or for Lateef as his 1957 album Prayer to the East incorporated the shehnai and Middle Eastern influences in playing jazz standards.[6] In addition to original compositions by Lateef, Eastern Sounds includes covers of themes from the films Spartacus and The Robe, which have been sampled by producers Nujabes and Blockhead, respectively.
Singer-songwriter Cat Stevens was inspired by the melody of the opening track to write his first hit single "I Love My Dog" (1966). Lateef later received credits and royalties for it.[7]
^ abOstrow, Marty, ed. (April 21, 1962). "April Album Releases"(PDF). Cash Box. New York: The Cash Box Publishing Co. p. 39. Archived(PDF) from the original on April 2, 2023.
^"Disc 1". In Search of the Centre of the Universe (booklet). Cat Stevens Box Set. Island Records. 2001. p. 64. 314 85 285-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
