Grammy Award winning jazz musician, Professor of Music and Music Education, and artist Yusef Lateef passed away on Monday, Dec. 23rd, 2013 in his home located in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, at the age of 93.

Yusef Lateef was considered to not only be a master of the tenor saxophone, but the multi-instrumentalist also played flute, bassoon, and the oboe.

Born in 1920 in Chattanooga, Tennessee as William Emanuel Huddleston, and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Lateef established himself in the Detroit jazz scene along with the likes of Donald Byrd, Milt Jackson, Kenny Burrell, and more.

Joining the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Deroit in 1948, Huddleston changed his name to Yusef Abdul Lateef, in which he has since practiced the Islamic faith.

In 1949, Yusef Lateef joined the band of musician Dizzee Gillespie before studying flute at Wayne State University back in Detroit, a year later. Yusef Lateef earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music at the Manhattan School of Music, followed by a Masters in Music in 1970.

Lateef is considered to be the architect of the autophysiopsychic style of jazz, a practice in which a musician plays from the spiritual realm of the self. Fusing jazz with more traditional eastern melodies and instrumentation, Yusef Lateef’s recordings have influenced generations of jazz musicians.

Some of Yusef Lateef’s albums include “Prayer to the East”, released in 1957 on Savoy, “Cry! Tender” released via Prestige in 1960, “The Golden Flute” released on the Impulse! label, and the 1972 Atlantic Records release “The Gentle Giant”, just to name a few.

Yusef Lateef is survived by his wife Ayesha Lateef, son Yusef Lateef, as well as his granddaughter Iqbal, along with grandchildren.