Jazz Articles about Julius Hemphill

About Julius Hemphill

Radio & Podcasts

The boys look at three recent releases including a vocal-focused celebration of Canada, a two-hander by composers of children's television soundtracks and a Swedish flutist upset with the political tides of the last few years. After a spirited, if dispiriting, discussion of jazz as “protest music" propers get paid to a pivotal recording of avant-funk-folk jazz by a co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet. Finally, Brad Mehldau's flirtation with Bach gets a look-in during a very high-brow pop-matters segment.

Album Review

Julius Hemphill: The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint and Soul Note

by AAJ Italy Staff
April 22, 2013

Ogni tanto varrebbe la pena di soffermarsi sul ruolo svolto dalle label italiane come Black Saint e Soul Note per la valorizzazione dell'avanguardia jazzistica afroamericana degli anni '80 e '90. All'interno di un catalogo d'eccellenza allestito con lungimiranza da Giovanni Bonandrini, trovano così spazio proposte e nomi relegati ai margini dalle major discografiche d'oltreoceano. Brilla in particolare l'opera solistica di Julius Hemphill (1940-1995), raccolta oggi in un box proposto dalla Cam. Concentrati lungo un arco temporale che va dal 1978 ...

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Extended Analysis

Julius Hemphill / Peter Kowald: Live at Kassiopeia

by John Sharpe
February 1, 2012

Julius Hemphill / Peter KowaldLive at KassiopeiaNo Business Records2011 Out of the blue comes this double disc set featuring two distinguished alumni, both sadly now departed, of two parallel streams of musical pioneering. German bassist Peter Kowald was one of the authors of European free improvisation. Though initially in the shadows of his more assertive compatriots, saxophonist Peter Brotzmann and pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, he came into his own through giving full ...

Album Review

Julius Hemphill - Peter Kowald: Live at Kassiopeia

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 14, 2011

Se si eccettua il breve episodio berlinese [registrato nel 1990] inserito in Duos 2: Europa-America-Japan, queste registrazioni finora inedite registrate al Kassiopeia di Wuppertal nel 1987 rappresentano una rara e preziosa occasione per ascoltare insieme due dei più originali e straordinarie personalità della musica improvvisata degli ultimi quarant'anni, purtroppo entrambe prematuramente scomparse. Si potrebbe sostenere, non senza ragione, che le poetiche di Julius Hemphill e Peter Kowald si siano mosse su traiettorie piuttosto diverse [anche se nel caso del contrabbassista ...

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Album Review

Julius Hemphill: Dogon A.D.

Read "Dogon A.D." reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
October 25, 2011

Dogon A.D. has long been revered as a classic among jazz connoisseurs; Julius Hemphill's relatively obscure but highly influential debut is widely considered the missing link between the avant-garde and populist forms such as blues, funk and soul. The 1972 recording session for this historic masterpiece originally produced four unique compositions, but Hemphill only issued three on his Mbari Records imprint due to time constraints. Arista/Freedom Records eventually bought the master tapes, using the fourth cut, “The Hard Blues," as ...

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Album Review

The Julius Hemphill Sextet: The Hard Blues

Read "The Hard Blues" reviewed by Germein Linares

by Germein Linares
April 24, 2005

The Julius Hemphill Sextet celebrates its namesake on The Hard Blues, a funky and groovy outing by this all-saxophone group. Released by one of the more ambitious labels currently on the jazz scene, Portugal-based Clean Feed, the album features thirteen of the late saxophonist's memorable compositions. As with the World Saxophone Quartet, drum and bass are missing, leaving the generation of rhythm and its infectious byproducts to the group's interactions. They achieve a unique counterpoint and call-and-response cadence that surprises ...

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Album Review

Julius Hemphill: One Atmosphere

Read "One Atmosphere" reviewed by Jeff Stockton

by Jeff Stockton
November 12, 2003

The late Julius Hemphill is pictured on the front of One Atmosphere nattily dressed and looking like someone you might meet at the crossroads, but he's holding sheet music. It's this combination of blues roots and classical formalism that was his stock and trade, both qualities represented to wonderful effect on this CD of rarely heard compositions.The title track, composed in 1992, is the most overtly classical. Ursula Oppens' piano mimics the sharp, vibrato-free Pacifica String Quartet as ...