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Bluiett

The finest baritone saxophonist of the 1970s and beyond, Hamiet Bluiett has demonstrated a huge, impressive sound, superb technique, and a mastery of his horn in every register. In his solos, he can provide an array of tonal colors and harmonic options. A first-rate free player who's as proficient on standards as in blues, Bluiett has played in many excellent groups, has led his own bands, and has been featured on numerous magnificent recordings.

Bluiett took music lessons from his aunt, who was a choral director, and started on clarinet at age nine. In late adolescence, he attended Southern University, where he studied clarinet and flute. Following a stint in the navy, Bluiett moved to St. Louis in the mid- '60s. He played with Lester and Joseph Bowie, Charles "Bobo" Shaw, Julius Hemphill and Oliver Lake. He also founded the BAG (Black Artists Group), the St. Louis equivalent of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

He moved to New York in 1969, and joined Sam Rivers' large ensemble and Olatunji. Bluiett worked with various bands before joining Charles Mingus' quintet in 1972, with whom he remained, off and on, until 1974. While his tenure was relatively short, Bluiett helped Mingus crystalize some of the finest music of his last years. After Mingus, Bluiett performed and recorded with Abdullah Ibrahim, Hemphill and others.

Bluiett, Hemphill, Lake and David Murray formed a quartet in 1976 for a New Orleans concert. They decided to remain intact as a working unit and named themselves the World Saxophone Quartet. They continued recording and performing into the '90s, with Arthur Blythe replacing Hemphill. The WSQ has been cited as one of the key groups of the '80s and '90s; Down Beat and the New York Times consider them among the most important acoustic jazz quartets performing today. In 1996 they recorded their acclaimed Justin Time debut, "Four Now," which features African percussionists; it was also their first with John Purcell. Bluiett has also worked with other bands. He was founder of the Clarinet Family, which featured eight clarinetists, and recorded with the Black Saint label in the '80s.

Murray

David Murray’s recorded output has included solo dates, sessions with quartets, quintets, octets, big bands and duos, for numerous European labels (notably Italy’s Black Saint), as well as for Japan’s DIW label. In addition, he has recorded with Music Revelation Ensemble, Clarinet Summit, and Jack DeJohnette’s Special Addition (ECM). Murray is also a founding member, with Hamiet Bluiett, Oliver Lake and Julius Hemphill, of the World Saxophone Quartet, an ensemble with whom he continues to record and perform.

Murray’s voice is distinctive, though one can hear in his playing the influence of such classic tenor saxophonists as Ben Webster, Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins. He’s as comfortable playing free jazz as he is playing a gorgeous ballad, firmly in the tradition. No matter the setting, Murray always maintains absolute control of his instrument and he doesn’t stop at the tenor saxophone. He has been called the most famous bass clarinetist since Eric Dolphy, and was leader of the aforementioned Clarinet Summit, whose other members included John Carter, Jimmy Hamilton and Alvin Batiste.

A native of Berkeley, California, Murray started on tenor at age nine and led various groups as a young man. It wasn’t long after his move to New York in the mid-seventies that Murray made a name for himself, building on his fiery, Ayler-esque sound and explosive delivery. After living for a long while in New York, Murray is now based in Paris (his office, "3D Family," is named after one of his Hat Hut recordings), which enables him to perform extensively throughout Europe, the former Eastern Bloc countries as well as the Far East, while continuing to perform regularly in the United States.

World Saxophone Quartet

Originally consisting of saxophonists David Murray, Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake and Hamiet Bluiett, the World Saxophone Quartet is one of the finest and most unusual small combos in jazz today. The Quartet began performing as a unit in 1976, inspired by Ed Jordan, head of Music at New Orleans Southern University. Jordan had heard the saxophonists in their individual groups, and hired them to do a show together. "We liked it, and started doing gigs at other colleges," remembers David Murray. Although three of the original members, Hemphill, Lake and Bluiett, knew each other from St.Louis, it was not until this event that they decided to create a group consisting only of four saxophones. Since then, the group has recorded many albums together, including the critically-acclaimed "Plays Duke Ellington" (Nonesuch), which was voted one of the best albums of 1986 in New York Times. Describing the group as "probably the most protean and exciting new jazz band of the 1980s", Jon Pareles of the Times called the WSQ "the most original and important group to emerge since Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane redefined group improvisation in the late 1950s."

The WSQ places consistently in the top five groups listed in Down Beat's Annual Critic's Poll. In 1987 they were voted "Best Jazz Group" in the Playboy Reader's Poll. Television appearances include two segments on VH-1's "New Visions" program and an appearance on "NBC's Night Music." The WSQ has an extremely diverse following, and has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan, where they enjoyed a major success as part of the "Live Under The Sky" Festival. Their reputation hinges most importantly on a repertoire that is theirs exclusively. Their albums "Dances and Ballads" and "Rhythm and Blues" significantly increased the popularity of this unique ensemble. Their signature tune, "Hattie Wall," is also a video, directed by Robert Longo. In 1990 Hemphill left the group and was replaced first by Arthur Blythe, then James Spaulding and later Eric Person.

Hamiet Bluiett (baritone sax, alto clarinet) is the most excellent baritone saxophonist to emerge in the '70s and beyond, and has superb command of his instrument in every register. He openly acknowledges the dramatic impact of hearing Ellington baritone saxophonist Harry Carney at a gig in Boston years ago. In addition to his association with the St. Louis Black Artists Group, his credits include work with the Gateway Symphony, Charles Mingus, Sam Rivers, Babatunde Olatunji, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye.

Oliver Lake (alto and soprano saxes, flute, synthesizer) grew up in St. Louis and received professional encouragement from trumpeter Lester Bowie. A founding member of the St. Louis Black Artists Group, he moved to New York in 1976 after teaching at the American Centre for Artists and Students in Paris and studying at the Electronic Workshop. He leads his own funk-reggae group Jump Up, as well as a jazz quartet. Lake has been a consistently outstanding soloist, composer and bandleader since the early '70s, and is also a published poet.

David Murray (tenor sax, bass clarinet) began leading his own rhythm and blues groups at the age of 12, and there is no question that his style is rooted in, but not confined to, a soulful blend of R&B, John Coltrane, Ben Webster and Sonny Rollins. He may be the most recorded jazz musician in modern music history, and his output includes solo recordings and sessions with trios, quartets, quintets, an octet and a big band. He is widely acknowledged to be among the greatest of living jazz musicians.

John Purcell is a multi-instrumentalist, playing all saxophones including saxello, all flutes, all clarinets, oboe and English horn. He has played in a remarkably wide variety of musical contexts, and has worked with Stevie Wonder, Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, David Sanborn, McCoy Tyner, Jack DeJohnette and Muhal Richard Abrams. He also works as a sound consultant and acoustician, most recently for David Sanborn, Tommy LiPuma and Johnny Mandel, for Sanborn's album "Pearls."