“Gilles Peterson has been given the keys to Warners impressive Jazz back-catalogue and hand-selected Yusef Lateefs legendary Detroit Latitude 42 30′ Longitude 83 for Arc Records next release. This is the first time the album has been reissued on vinyl since its originally came out in 1969. The album is Lateefs nostalgic love-letter to his hometown and one of the rawest works in his catalogue but the record looks forward as well as back. The compositions are laced with the seeds of 70s Jazz Funk that would come to dominate the following decade.

Arc Records have given this overlooked piece in Lateefs oeuvre a bespoke reissue treatment. The audio has been remastered in mono from the original tapes by legendary engineer Bernie Grundman – best known for personally mastering industry landmarks such as Michael Jacksons Thriller, Princes Purple Rain and Dr. Dres The Chronic among many others. The artwork, printed on heavy-weight card, is faithful to the original down to the 1960s-style tip on sleeve and features the original sleeve notes alongside updated liner notes. The record itself is pressed on 180-gram black vinyl. The release is physical only and limited to just 2000 copies.” – Label

DJ and broadcaster Gilles Petersons exploration of the Warner Music archive has led him to a standout album from a true jazz innovator. For a special reissue on his Arc label, Peterson has personally selected Yusef Lateef’s Detroit Latitude 42 30′ Longitude 83, an album of raw, funky blues and soul jazz that captures the intense, urban density of the motor city itself, Detroit, the city Lateef grew up in.

By the time Lateef came to record Yusef Lateef’s Detroit for Atlantic Records in February 1969, he was a well-established and highly-regarded multi-instrumentalist who had, since the mid-1950s, cut a highly individual furrow in jazz. Recording for numerous labels including Savoy, Argo, Prestige, Riverside and Impulse. He was a progenitor for what many now call spiritual jazz and world music, mixing jazz, folk, blues, and gospel, with funk, free improvisation, classical, meditative and Eastern musical styles; he never felt constrained by any musical dimension or stylistic limitation.

On Yusef Lateef’s Detroit, Lateef is joined by a band featuring some of the finest jazz and funk players of the era including Cecil McBee and Chuck Rainey on bass, Bernard Purdie and Roy Brooks on drums, Ray Barretto and Albert Tootie Heath on percussion, and Jimmy Owens and Thad Jones on trumpet. The session wasproduced by Joel Dorn, noted for his landmark work with Roland Kirk, Eddie Harris, Roberta Flack and many others. – Arc Records