Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note

Composer and saxophonist Julius Hemphill recorded five albums for the Black Saint and Soul Note labels between 1977 and 1993. He began his tenure with Giovianni Bonandrini about a year after founding the World Saxophone Quartet. This box contains those five recordings in glorious, remastered sound. Raw Materials and Residuals was issued on Black Saint in 1978 and featured Hemphill on alto and soprano saxophone, in the company of Art Ensemble of Chicago drummer and percussionist Don Moye and cellist Abdul Wadud. It features five medium to long compositions of which the real notables are the labyrinthine "Mirrors" and the strange, bluesy, free jazz funk of "G Song." Though his duet album with percussionist Warren Smith, Chile New York, was recorded in May of 1980, it wasn't released until 1998, three years after Hemphill's passing. Its seven pieces are numbered, and though credited as Hemphill compositions, they feel very much like improvisations. Three of these pieces run from just under to just over the 20-minute mark. Flat-Out Jump Suite was recorded a month later. Wadud and Smith appear in the quartet along with trumpeter Olu Dara. Its five parts aligned with aspects of sensual awareness in mind and body; Hemphill plays flute and tenor saxophone on the recording, whose works run from light and free to hard and funky. After leaving the World Saxophone Quartet, Hemphill formed a saxophone sextet; its first recording, Fat Man and the Hard Blues, was recorded in 1991. It contains 14 tight, tough compositions and features a stellar band including a very young James Carter, Marty Ehrlich, Carl Grubbs, Sam Furnace, and Andrew White. Hemphill didn't play on the last of his recordings for Bonandrini, 1993's Five Chord Stud. He conducted his compositions. Former student Tim Berne filled his chair in the lineup while Fred Ho replaced Grubbs. Featuring nine compositions including beautiful renditions of earlier works such as "Georgia Blue" and "Mirrors," this album and its immediate predecessor remain two of the high-water marks in Hemphill's catalog; that said, each of these five albums is well worth owning for any real fan of avant jazz. ~ Thom Jurek|