by Editor
Arrangement or adaptation by Hemphill of an Ornette Coleman composition, recorded on Lester Bowie’s album Fast Last! (1974). That recording featured an ensemble of trumpet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, trombone, piano, bass, and drums. There is no known score.
Found on: Fast Last!
by Editor
This composition had a number of alternative titles. As “C,” it was recorded as a trio with cello and percussion for Raw Materials and Residuals (1978); as a duet with cello for Oakland Duets (1993)—both with Abdul Wadud—and in a small group for the Lester Bowie album Fast Last! (1974). As “C/Saw,” it was recorded by big band on the album Julius Hemphill Big Band (1988). It also appears as “C (Those Blues)” in the big-band score in Hemphill’s hand and on archival recordings of live performances. The archive contains the score and parts for the big-band arrangement.
From Marty Ehrlich: This is was Hemphill’s go-to blues, along with “K.C. Line.” Both pieces are up-tempo works evoking the language of Charlie Parker and his peers, the whole lineage up to the bebop era. The piece is at the core of Hemphill’s language on the alto saxophone.
Found on: Raw Materials and Residuals, Julius Hemphill Big Band, Oakland Duets, Fast Last!.
by Editor
Composition recorded on the Lester Bowie album Fast Last! (1974), with trumpet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, trombone, tuba, piano, bass, and drums. No known score or parts.
Found on: Fast Last!
From Marty Ehrlich: Tim Berne recently told me that he remembers Hemphill describing Banana Whistle as one of his earliest compositions; perhaps he wrote it in the army. J.D. Parran told me about a piece from the B.A.G. or St. Louis period, which Hemphill called “Banana Britches.” Bob Stewart confirmed that Bowie brought him in after the recording session to overdub his tuba part; he told me he remembers having been given verbal directions, and perhaps some graphic notations, rather than a written part.
This is the only studio recording Hemphill and Bowie made together, and it is striking in its ideas, its emotional resonance, and the compositional logic that unifies its diverse parts. To me, the opening, high energy collective improvisation, so voice-like and inflected, represents something unique about the Midwest/Southern players. The piece then connects a number of compositional ideas in a logical and powerful way, moving to longer, measured phrases, breaking the time down to half time and a backbeat, and layering one of Hemphill’s catchy melodies with the opening sound collage.
The Julius Hemphill Papers is an archival collection at New York University. The collection contains scores, audiovisual documentation, and other material related to the life and career of composer and saxophonist Julius Hemphill. Materials are accessible by appointment. Click here to learn more.