Julius Hemphill : Composer

Raw Materials and Residuals

Plateau

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Composition for alto saxophone, cello, and percussion, recorded on Raw Materials and Residuals (1978). The Julius Hemphill Papers includes parts for alto saxophone and cello/bass, as well as a part for French horn in Music Manuscript Notebook 5 (MMN5), which duplicates the cello/bass part.

Found on: Raw Materials and Residuals.

From Marty Ehrlich: Baikida Carroll played French horn in the 1970s, and Hemphill wrote some parts for him on that instrument. (Carroll recently told me he remembers playing this work with Hemphill, but always on trumpet.) A score could be made of the two melodic parts in conjunction with listening to the trio recording on Raw Materials.

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Mirrors

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Composition first recorded as a trio of alto saxophone, cello, and drums on Raw Materials and Residuals (1978). The Julius Hemphill Papers has a small-group score in Hemphill’s hand for alto saxophone, trumpet, baritone saxophone, cello, and guitar. Hemphill also arranged the composition for saxophone sextet (two soprano, alto, two tenor, and baritone), and it was recorded by the Julius Hemphill Sextet on Five Chord Stud (1994). It was published in the Julius Hemphill Sextet Collection by Subito Music.

Found on: Raw Materials and Residuals, Five Chord Stud.

From Marty Ehrlich: From trio to quartet to saxophone sextet, “Mirrors” is for me one of Julius’s iconic pieces, in the totality of its compositional parts, and in the way Julius’ gave it voice, with Abdul Wadud, on his horn. I first heard Hemphill perform this work in 1971 at Washington University in St. Louis, in a trio with Wadud on cello and Charley Payne on drums. We performed the work often with the Julius Hemphill Sextet.

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G Song

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Composition first recorded as a trio with soprano saxophone, cello, and percussion, on the album Raw Materials and Residuals (1977). The Julius Hemphill Papers includes various parts, as well as a score with this title that differs substantially from the recording. See also Music Manuscript Notebooks 6 and 10. The archive includes a recording of this piece with an unknown tenor saxophone player. 

Found on: Raw Materials and Residuals.

From Marty Ehrlich: As notated, G Song is a bass line/melody that evokes a child’s song as much as it is a riff evoking the country blues. As realized on Raw Materials and Residuals, it is a composition in four sections. Perhaps the full composition was realized in the recording studio. It is a stellar example of the way Hemphill conceived a broad, expressive work, pan-stylistic and multi-sectional, and brought it to life through the individual voices of his brilliant collaborators. 

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C

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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!.

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