The World Saxophone Quartet is an American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
ensemble founded in 1977, incorporating elements of
free jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...
,
R&B,
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
and
South African jazz into their music.
The original members were
Julius Hemphill (alto and soprano saxophone, flute),
Oliver Lake
Oliver Lake (born September 14, 1942) is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer, poet, and visual artist. He is known mainly for alto saxophone, but he also performs on soprano and flute. During the 1960s, Lake worked with the Black ...
(alto and soprano saxophone),
Hamiet Bluiett
Hamiet Bluiett (; September 16, 1940 – October 4, 2018) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. His primary instrument was the baritone saxophone, and he was considered one of the finest players of this instrument. A mem ...
(baritone saxophone, alto clarinet), and
David Murray (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet).
The first three had worked together as members of the
Black Artists' Group
The Black Artists Group (BAG) was a multidisciplinary arts collective that existed in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1968 to 1972. BAG is known for the convergence of free jazz and experimental theater.
Members
Members included saxophonists Julius ...
in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
, and had appeared together on
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Ch ...
's album ''
New York, Fall 1974''. In 1991, Hemphill left the group due to illness, and was replaced by Arthur Blythe,
although several saxophonists have filled his chair in the years since. Hemphill died on April 2, 1995. Beginning in the early 1980s, the quartet used Bluiett's composition "Hattie Wall" (released on ''
W.S.Q.'', ''
Live in Zurich'', ''
Dances and Ballads'', ''
Steppenwolf'' and ''
Yes We Can'') as a signature theme for the group. The group principally recorded and performed as a saxophone quartet, usually with a line-up of two altos, tenor, and baritone (reflecting the composition of a
classical string quartet), but were also joined later in their career by drummers, bassists, and other musicians.
Occasionally other saxophonists would sit in or substitute for a tour. These guests have included
Sam Rivers,
Tony Kofi,
Steve Potts,
Branford Marsalis,
James Spaulding
James Ralph Spaulding Jr. (born July 30, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist and flutist.
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, United states, Spaulding attended the Chicago Cosmopolitan School of Music. Between 1957 and 1961, he was a member of Sun ...
and Jorge Sylvester. Hamiet Bluiett died on October 4, 2018, after an extended illness.
The ensemble had split up in 2016.
Discography
Albums
References
External links
Review of 2009's ''Yes We Can''
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Saxophone Quartet
1977 establishments in the United States
2016 disestablishments in the United States
Free jazz ensembles
Post-bop ensembles
Saxophone quartets
American jazz ensembles
Avant-garde jazz ensembles
Justin Time Records artists
Musical groups established in 1977
Musical groups disestablished in 2016