Survival research · in the Kissa Kissa racks

Jazz Mood

Yusef Lateef

Recorded	Apr 9, 1957
Label	Survival research
Catalog	MG 12103
Released	1957
Personnel	5 credited players
Discogs	master 345585

The record

Rabab and argol slip into a hard-bop frame, with piano and trombone holding steady while Lateef works at the edges of the form. It's one of several sessions from that busy 1957 stretch tracking his pull toward instruments jazz hadn't yet claimed.

Session personnel

Ernie Farrow — bass, rabab [rabat]
Louis Hayes — drums
Yusef Lateef — leader, tenor saxophone, flute, pipe [argol], scraper
Hugh Lawson — piano
Curtis Fuller — trombone, tambourine, finger cymbals

Contemporary reception

No period review located yet. The vintage-press pipeline searches DownBeat, Cash Box, and Billboard for this session.

Pressings

The earliest copy we list is Savoy's 1957 US mono, MG 12103, with a deep groove and an RVG stamp. Undated Savoy pressings of that same number also turn up, some with one marker and some with both, so judge the labels in front of you rather than the catalog number. South Africa reissued it in 1972. For something new, there is a 2018 European mono reissue, GB015LP, and a 180 gram Craft mono, CR00866, from 2025.

1957	Savoy Records · MG 12103 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono earliest on file · deep groove; RVG stamp
—	Savoy Records · MG 12103 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono · RVG stamp
—	Savoy Records · MG 12103 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Repress, Mono · deep groove; RVG stamp
—	Savoy Records · MG 12103 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue · deep groove
1972	Savoy Records · MG 12103 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
1993	Savoy Jazz · SV-0237 — CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Mono
1994	Savoy Jazz · COCY-75931 — CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Mono
2010	Savoy Records — File, FLAC, Album, Reissue
2018	Go! Bop! · GB015LP — Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono
2022	Survival research
2025	Craft Recordings · CR00866 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono, 180g
—	Savoy Jazz · SV-0237 — CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Mono