In the late 1960s he began to incorporate contemporary soul and gospel phrasing into his music (albeit with a strong blues underlay) on albums such as "Detroit" and "Hush'n'Thunder", presaging the emergence of jazz fusion. Lateef expressed a dislike of the terms "jazz" and "jazz musician" as musical generalizations. As is so often the case with such generalizations, the use of these terms do understate the breadth of his sound. For example, in the 1980s, Lateef experimented with new-age and spiritual elements.