Julius Hemphill : Composer

Long Tongues

Lemon’s Etched in Half-Mooned Blues

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Composition for saxophone sextet (soprano, two alto, two tenor, and baritone). The six-page score in the Julius Hemphill Papers is accompanied by four pages of poetry by K. Curtis Lyle, including material used in the piece “The Collected Poem for Blind Lemon Jefferson.” The score also includes extensive stage directions, suggesting choreographed movements by the musicians. There is no known recording of this piece.

From Marty Ehrlich: Hemphill first performed with a saxophone sextet in 1987, and he formed the Julius Hemphill Saxophone Sextet in 1988. The handwriting on this score looks very similar to scores he made in  1987-88. I conjecture that this piece marks the beginning of his conception of Long Tongues: A Saxophone Opera. 

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Kansas City Line / KC Line / K.C. Line

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Composition performed and recorded by various ensembles under different titles throughout Hemphill’s career. It is represented in the archive with various scores and parts. Its first appearance on a commercial recording is as an alto saxophone solo on Blue Boyé (1977). Music Manuscript Notebook 1 (MMN1) includes a part for this version, where it bears the title “Sixth Blues.” Hemphill later arranged it for big band as one of the movements of the suite Drunk on God, recorded on Julius Hemphill Big Band (1988). In Drunk on God, the piece is titled “Gates of Kansas City.” In other scores or parts in Hemphill’s hand, it is titled “Short Circuit” or “Bop Scene: KC Line.” “Kansas City Line” was also incorporated into the large-scale work “Long Tongues: A Saxophone Opera.” On the duo album with Peter Korwald, Live at Kassiopeia (recorded in 1987), Hemphill’s “Solo II” is a version of “Kansas City Line.”

Found on: Blue Boyé, Julius Hemphill Big Band, Live at Kassiopeia.

From Marty Ehrlich: The theme to “Kansas City Line” is a ten-bar blues. In a sense, Hemphill gets rid of what is called “the turnaround” in measures 11 and 12 of the typical blues form. Hemphill’s solo version of this work on Blue Boyé is a tour-de-force, reflecting how he heard and extended the bebop vernacular developed by Charlie Parker.

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Images II

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Composition for large ensemble (saxophone section, with strings, brass, woodwinds, and rhythm section). The fifty-one measure score in the Julius Hemphill Papers includes the subtitle “Sketch II,” which is the title for movements in the large-scale pieces “Ralph Ellison’s Long Tongue” and “Long Tongues: A Saxophone Opera.” There are various annotations indicating orchestration, backgrounds, and ways in which the material is to be extended through improvisation. The archive also includes a full set of parts, not professionally copied, and not in holograph. 

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Holy Rockers

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Composition for saxophone sextet (three alto, two tenor, and baritone). The scores in the archive suggest various stages of composition, including one manuscript with indications of dance movements. A photocopy of this score has additional notations in Hemphill’s hand with instructions for expanded instrumentation, including strings, woodwinds, and brass. The piece was recorded after Hemphill’s death by the Julius Hemphill Sextet on At Dr. King’s Table (1997).

From Marty Ehrlich: This work was among the five movements Hemphill included in his suite titled Rites (a different work than the composition titled “Rites”), which was performed by the IMP ORK. See the list of Archival Audiovisual Material for more information.

Found on: At Dr. King’s Table.

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