Compositions S-Z
Sounds in the Fog
Composition for soprano and baritone saxophones, guitar, cello, and drums. The archive includes a score in Tim Berne’s hand. This piece was written for the album Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill) (1993), a collaboration with Tim Berne.
Found on: Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill).
Sojourner’s Blues: “Ain’t I A Woman?”
Composition for saxophone sextet, originally part of the dance piece “Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin / The Promised Land.” It introduced and accompanied the section Last Supper that drew on the abolitionist speech known as “Ain’t I A Woman,” delivered by Sojourner Truth in 1851. “Sojourner’s Blues” was recorded by the Julius Hemphill Sextet on the posthumous album At Dr. King’s Table (1997).
Found on: At Dr. King’s Table.
Soft Lines
Composition for flute, flugelhorn, cello, and bass, found in Music Manuscript Notebook 4 (MMN4). There are also parts, in holograph or photocopies. No known recording.
From Marty Ehrlich: This piece appears with “Dung,” “S*,” and “Scatterbrain” on several instrumental parts, implying a set of pieces being played by Hemphill’s ensemble at a certain time. Of the works in MMN 4 that seem to be for an ensemble including cello and bass, this one is the most fully realized. Baikida Carroll also includes these four pieces in his list of works in the Trumpet Notebook in the Hemphill Papers.
Smooth
Fragmentary composition, known only from a cello part in the Julius Hemphill Papers.
From Marty Ehrlich: This cello part has the marking “medium bounce” and is a walking-bass line, marked pizzicato. It may be part of a series of pieces, as the previous page in the manuscript has an untitled part for cello marked “IV,” and the page with “Smooth” has the additional marking “V.” We’ll see if a melody ever shows up.