Julius Hemphill

Julius Arthur Hemphill (January 24, 1938, Fort Worth, Texas - April 2, 1995, New York City) was a jazz composer and saxophone player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone; less often soprano and tenor saxophones and flute.

Hemphill was born in Fort Worth, Texas (also, incidentally, the hometown of Ornette Coleman), and studied the clarinet before learning saxophone. Gerry Mulligan was an early influence. Hemphill joined the United States Army in 1964, and served for several years, and later performed with Ike Turner for a brief period. In 1968, Hemphill moved to St. Louis, Missouri and co-founded the Black Artists' Group (BAG), a multidisciplinary arts collective that brought him into contact with artists such as saxophonists Oliver Lake and Hamiet Bluiett, trumpeters Baikida Carroll 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 jazz community. He taught saxophone lessons to a number of notable musicians, including David Sanborn and Tim Berne. Hemphill was probably best known as the founder of the World Saxophone Quartet, a group he formed in 1976, after collaborating with Anthony Braxton 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 Quartet and also recorded or performed with Björk, Bill Frisell, Anthony Braxton 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 Ehrlich, also released several albums of Hemphill's music, but without Hemphill playing. The most recent is titled "The Hard Blues," recorded live in Lisbon 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 Institution in March and April 1994, and which is held at the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

elected discography

* 1972: "Dogon A.D." (Freedom)
* 1975: "Coon Bid'ness" (Black Lion) -- re-released in 1995 as "Reflections"
* 1976: "Live in New York" (Red)
* 1977: "Blue Boyé" (Screwgun)
* 1977: "Roi Boyé and the Gotham Minstrels" (Sackville)
* 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)
* 1991: "Fat Man and the Hard Blues" (Black Saint)
* 1991: "Live from the New Music Cafe" (Music & Arts)
* 1992: "Oakland Duets (live)" (Music & Arts)
* 1993: "Five Chord Stud" (Black Saint)
* 1995: "Reflections" (Freedom)
* 1997: "At Dr. King's Table" (New World)
* 1998: "Chile/New York: Sound Environment" (Black Saint)
* 2003: "One Atmosphere" (Tzadik)

ee also

*List of experimental big bands

External links

* [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/HH/fhe81.html Biography in Handbook of Texas]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0376160/ His page on the Internet Movie Database]
* Tim Berne discusses Hemphill: [http://www.screwgunrecords.com/page_a.php?pageid=interviews&sub=berne_on_hemphill]
* [http://www.gardnermuseum.org/music/composer/hemphill.asp Biography and recordings of his works] from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum