"Yusef Lateef was a Grammy Award-winning composer, performer, recording artist, author, visual artist, educator and philosopher who was a major force on the international musical scene for more than six decades.

In recognition of his many contributions to the world of music, he was named an American Jazz Master in the year 2010 by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Until his passing on December 23, 2013 at age 93, Yusef remained vital and active as a touring and recording artist, composer and educator.

Yusef Lateef is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest masters and innovators in the African American tradition of autophysiopsychic music - that which comes from one's spiritual, physical and emotional self.

As a virtuoso on a broad spectrum of reed instruments - tenor saxophone, flute, oboe, bamboo flute, shanai, shofar, argol, sarewa, and taiwan koto - Yusef Lateef introduced delightful new sounds and blends of tone colors to audiences all over the world, and he incorporated the sounds of many countries into his own music.

As a result, he is considered a pioneer in what is known today as "world music."

As a composer, Yusef Lateef compiled a catalogue of works not only for the quartets and quintets he led, but for symphony and chamber orchestras, stage bands, small ensembles, vocalists, choruses, and various solo instrumental compositions. His extended works have been performed by the WDR (Cologne), NDR (Hamburg), Atlanta, Augusta and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, the Symphony of the New World, Eternal Wind, the GO Organic Orchestra, and the New Century Players from California Insitute of the Arts. In 1987 he won a Grammy Award for his recording of "Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony," on which he performed all the parts. His later extended works include a woodwind quintet, his Symphony No.2, and a concerto for piano and orchestra.

As an educator, Yusef devoted much of his life to exploring the methodology of autophysiopsychic music in various cultures and passing what he learned on to new generations of students.

He was an emeritus Five Colleges professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA, from which he was awarded a Ph.D. in Education in 1975. His doctoral dissertation was entitled "An Overview of Western and Islamic Education." In 2007 he was named University of Massachusetts' "Artist of the Year."

As an author, Yusef Lateef published two novellas, "A Night in the Garden of Love" and "Another Avenue"; two collections of short stories, "Spheres" and "Rain Shapes;" and his autobiography, "The Gentle Giant" written in collaboration with Herb Boyd

In his later years Yusef exhibited his paintings and drawings at various art galleries."

Nicolas Humbert is director, writer & cinematographer, known for Middle of the Moment, Step Across the Border, Fog Chasers, and Wild Plants.

"Marc Parisotto is a composer, born May 1, 1957 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France"