This is a multi-movement suite, written for the album Julius Hemphill Big Band (1988) and incorporating poetry written and performed by K. Curtis Lyle. It is scored for five saxophones, two trumpets, two French horns, two trombones, two guitars, bass, and drums. The seven movements in Hemphill’s score are as follows:
Nago: Testament
Maliaka: Drum/Woman
Pigskin (or “Motion as the Lang”)
Float
Bop Scene: KC Line
Anchorman
From Out of Nowhere: The Big Drum Speaks
On the album, there is an added introductory section of collective improvisation, titled “High on a Mountain in the Center of Mexico.” Some of the movements that follow have names that correspond to the autograph score, and others have been renamed to correspond to Lyle’s poetry. They are:
Nago: Testament
Mailika
Motion as the Terrible Language of the Future
Floating
Gates of Kansas City
Radiant Number
Cosmic Country Boy
Many of the suite’s individual movements were also performed in small group arrangements and may appear elsewhere in the Annotated Composition List. The Julius Hemphill Papers include Hemphill’s autograph score and full sets of instrumental parts.
Found on: Julius Hemphill Big Band.