Julius Arthur Hemphill (January 24, 1938,
Fort Worth, TexasFort Worth is the seventeenth-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city within the state of Texas. Located in and a cultural gateway into the American West, the city covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, and Denton counties, serving as the county seat for Tarrant...
- April 2, 1995,
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
) was a
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
composer and
saxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1841...
player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone; less often soprano and tenor saxophones and
fluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
.
[Allmusic]
Hemphill was born in
Fort Worth, TexasFort Worth is the seventeenth-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city within the state of Texas. Located in and a cultural gateway into the American West, the city covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, and Denton counties, serving as the county seat for Tarrant...
(also, incidentally, the hometown of
Ornette ColemanOrnette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
), and studied the
clarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet...
before learning saxophone.
Julius Arthur Hemphill (January 24, 1938,
Fort Worth, TexasFort Worth is the seventeenth-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city within the state of Texas. Located in and a cultural gateway into the American West, the city covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, and Denton counties, serving as the county seat for Tarrant...
- April 2, 1995,
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
) was a
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
composer and
saxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1841...
player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone; less often soprano and tenor saxophones and
fluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
.
[Allmusic]
Biography
Hemphill was born in
Fort Worth, TexasFort Worth is the seventeenth-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city within the state of Texas. Located in and a cultural gateway into the American West, the city covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, and Denton counties, serving as the county seat for Tarrant...
(also, incidentally, the hometown of
Ornette ColemanOrnette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
), and studied the
clarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet...
before learning saxophone.
Gerry MulliganGerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger.Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history - playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz - he was also a notable...
was an early influence. Hemphill joined the
United States ArmyThe United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
in 1964, and served for several years, and later performed with
Ike TurnerIke Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, talent scout, and record producer. Considered to be one of the fathers of rock and roll, his first recording, "Rocket 88" by "Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats," in 1951, is considered by some to be the "first rock and roll song" ever...
for a brief period. In 1968, Hemphill moved to
St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
and co-founded the Black Artists' Group (BAG), a multidisciplinary arts collective that brought him into contact with artists such as saxophonists
Oliver LakeOliver Lake is an American alto saxophonist, flutist, composer and poet. Lake started playing and studying the alto saxophone in 1960, where in the mid 1960s he was working with the St. Louis Black Artists Group ...
and
Hamiet BluiettHamiet Bluiett is an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. His primary instrument is the baritone saxophone, and he is considered one of the finest living players of this instrument...
, trumpeters
Baikida CarrollBaikida Carroll is an American jazz trumpeter.Carroll studied at Southern Illinois University and at the Armed Forces School of Music early in his career. Following this he became a member of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, where he directed their free jazz ensemble...
and Floyd LeFlore, and writer/director Malinke Robert Elliott.
Hemphill moved to New York City in the mid-1970s, and was active in the then-thriving
free jazzFree jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s.Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
community. He taught saxophone lessons to a number of notable musicians, including
David SanbornDavid Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B...
and
Tim BerneTim Berne is an American jazz saxophone player and composer.Described by critic Thom Jurek as commanding "considerable power as a composer and ... frighteningly deft ability as a soloist," Berne has composed and performed prolifically since the 1980s...
. Hemphill was probably best known as the founder of the
World Saxophone QuartetThe World Saxophone Quartet is an avant-garde jazz group founded in 1977, implementing elements of free funk and African jazz into their musical routines....
, a group he formed in 1976, after collaborating with
Anthony BraxtonAnthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
in several saxophone-only ensembles. Hemphill left the World Saxophone Quartet in the early 1990s, and formed a saxophone quintet.
Hemphill recorded over twenty albums as a leader, about ten records with the
World Saxophone QuartetThe World Saxophone Quartet is an avant-garde jazz group founded in 1977, implementing elements of free funk and African jazz into their musical routines....
and also recorded or performed with
BjörkBjörk Guðmundsdóttir is a critically acclaimed Icelandic avant-garde singer-songwriter, composer, actress and music producer, whose work includes seven solo albums and two film soundtracks....
,
Bill FrisellWilliam Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late '80s Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
,
Anthony BraxtonAnthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
and others. Late in his life, ill-health (including diabetes and heart surgery) forced Hemphill to stop playing saxophone, but he continued writing music until his death. His saxophone sextet, led by
Marty EhrlichMarty Ehrlich is a multi-instrumentalist and is considered one of the leading figures in experimental or avant-garde jazz....
, also released several albums of Hemphill's music, but without Hemphill playing. The most recent is titled
The Hard Blues, recorded live in
LisbonLisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the district of Lisbon and the main city of the Lisbon region...
after Hemphill's death.
The best source on Hemphill's life and music is a multi-hour oral history interview that he conducted for the
Smithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines...
in March and April 1994, and which is held at the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
Discography
- 1972: Dogon A.D.
Dogon A.D. is an album by saxophonist Julius Hemphill released on in 1972, originally on Hemphill's own Mbari Records, and later on the Freedom label in 1977. The album was recorded in St. Louis, Missouri in February 1972...
(Freedom)
- 1975: Coon Bid'ness
Coon Bid'ness is an album released by Julius Hemphill in 1975 featuring performances by Hemphill, Baikida Carroll, Abdul Wadud, Phillip Wilson, Arthur Blythe, Barry Altschul and Daniel Zebulon...
(Black Lion RecordsBlack Lion Records was a jazz record label based in London, England.Black Lion was founded by Alan Bates in 1968. The label had two "series" of releases, one for British jazz musicians and one for international musicians...
) (re-released in 1995 as Reflections)
- 1976: Live in New York (Red
Red Records is an Italian jazz record label established in 1976.Artists who have recorded for the label include Joe Henderson, Bobby Watson, Billy Higgins, Roberto Gatto, Franco d'Andrea, Dave Liebman, Cedar Walton, Edward Simon , Stafford James, Ray Mantilla, Jim Snidero, Black Note, Julius...
)
- 1977: Blue Boyé (Screwgun)
- 1977: Roi Boyé and the Gotham Minstrels (Sackville
Sackville Records is a Canadian record label. Although the label has been used to issue material in various styles, the company particulrly specializes in jazz music. Most of the company's releases have been newly recorded in Canada....
)
- 1977: Raw Materials and Residuals (Black Saint)
- 1978: Buster Bee (Sackville)
- 1980: Flat-Out Jump Suite (Black Saint)
- 1984: Georgia Blue (Minor Music)
- 1988: Big Band (Elektra
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009.-Beginnings:...
)
- 1991: Fat Man and the Hard Blues (Black Saint)
- 1991: Live from the New Music Cafe (Music & Arts
Music & Arts is an American record label based out of Berkeley, California.Music & Arts is a daughter company of Music and Arts Programs of America, which was formed in Berkeley by Frederick J. Maroth in 1984. The label began as a classical music reissue label, and began releasing new and classic...
)
- 1992: Oakland Duets (live) (Music & Arts)
- 1993: Five Chord Stud (Black Saint)
- 1995: Reflections (Freedom)
- 1997: At Dr. King's Table (New World
The New World is one of the names used for the non-Afro-Eurasian parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and possibly Australia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia,...
)
- 1998: Chile/New York: Sound Environment (Black Saint)
- 2003: One Atmosphere
One Atmosphere is an album composed entirely by Texas-born saxophonist Julius Hemphill. Tzadik Records released the album in August 2003. It is considered experimental and avant-garde.
-Track listing:# "One Atmosphere" - 9:01...
(TzadikTzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...
)
External links