Just randomly strolling through my collection tonight I hit on The Julius Hemphill Sextet. Avant gardener Hemphill (1938-1995) seems to be the almost invisible man. I couldn't find an entry on him in the Jazz Encyclopedia. Nor could I find the album Five Card Stud on Discogs. That's damned odd, because Discogs has pretty much everything.
Anyway, Five Card Stud is a very fine piece of work. It is all saxophone all the time. Here is the lineup, from Wikipedia:
- Julius Hemphill - composer
- Tim Berne - alto saxophone
- Marty Ehrlich - soprano saxophone, alto saxophone
- Sam Furnace - soprano saxophone, alto saxophone
- James Carter - tenor saxophone
- Andrew White - tenor saxophone
- Fred Ho - baritone saxophone
I note the presence of Tim Berne. An all horn band is a lot like a Capella music: voice is everything. Fortunately, the sax has a lot of rich voice. I don't miss the drums or the ubiquitous thump of the jazz bass, maybe because some of the horns are thumping like a bass. Much of the composition divides between a solo, a horn doing bass, and an orchestra-like chorus.
Search this one out. Everything on it is toe curling good. I am playing 'Moat and the Bridge' from the album.
Another Hemphill recording (the only other one I have) is Flat-out Jump Suite. This is a pure avant garde concept album, with titles 'Ear', 'Mind', 'Heart', and 'Body'. You don't want to miss hearing this one.
- Julius Hemphill - flute, tenor saxophone
- Olu Dara - trumpet
- Abdul Wadud - cello
- Warren Smith - percussion
I am playing 'The Body' on my L365 station.
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