Hemphill used this title for at least two pieces. One is a composition for solo flute found in Music Manuscript Notebook 4 (MMN4). It is preceded in this notebook by a longer flute melody, which is untitled. No known recording.
Hemphill also recorded a piece by this title for the unreleased Janus Company recording sessions, included in the archive, with a trio of trumpet, drums/percussion, and saxophones/flute.
From Marty Ehrlich: The cover of MMN4 has a mailing address for Hemphill at Canal Street Station, for a P.O. box he used as his business address in the 1970s for Mbari Productions and such.
In a recent conversation with me, Tim Berne recalled Hemphill writing the Janus Company sessions “Opener” while waiting for a cab to take the group from Berne’s loft in Downtown Brooklyn to the recording studio. The Julius Hemphill trio (the Janus session trio) often played it on tour.