Hemphill used the title “Anchorman” for more than one piece over the course of his career. Portions of the different versions may be found in the archival folders for “Anchorman,” “Bordertown,” “Drunk on God,”and “Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin / The Promised Land.”
(1) One piece associated with this title is a slow six-bar blues, with a two-bar introduction, for saxophone sextet (2 soprano, 2 alto, tenor, and baritone). The Julius Hemphill Saxophone Sextet recorded this work as “Anchorman” on Fat Man and the Hard Blues (1991). In its first appearance on a studio recording, Julius Hemphill Big Band (1988), the piece was titled “Radiant Number” and was included in “Drunk on God,” Hemphill’s setting of poems by K. Curtis Lyle. Subsequently, Hemphill incorporated this piece into “Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin / The Promised Land,” his work for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company.
(2) The archive also includes a ten-page, five-line score in holograph, with VOX indicated on the top line, for a different piece titled “Anchorman.” This piece, orchestrated for trumpet, 2 tenor saxophones, and bass clarinet, is a re-orchestration of the composition “Bordertown.” Pages 4 and 5 of this score are in the archival folder for “Drunk on God.”
From Marty Ehrlich: The second piece described above is associated with Anchorman, a theatrical work in two acts by Paul Carter Harrison; a script is included in the Julius Hemphill Papers. According to Harrison (from a phone conversation in 2019), Anchorman was given a first performance with Hemphill’s score in 1982 at Columbia College in Chicago, with members of the AACM performing. In 1988, the American Folk Theatre mounted a performance of the play in New York City, using a portion of Hemphill’s score arranged for solo piano. There is no known recording of the orchestration with trumpet, two tenor saxophones, and bass clarinet.
Found on: Fat Man and the Hard Blues, Julius Hemphill Big Band