Join us for an evening of jazz saxophone as UCLA faculty and advanced students perform music from Julius Hemphill's The Sextet Collection, under the direction of Alex Harding. Hemphill emerged in the 1980s as one of the premiere jazz composers of his era, offering an aesthetic model that contrasted with Wynton Marsalis's neo-hard bob movement. Along with David Murray, Oliver Lake, and Hamiett Blueitt, Hemphill founded in 1977 the extremely influential World Saxophone Quartet, which went on to record over 20 albums. Their hard-hitting style and innovative combination of numerous jazz styles has become a touchstone for future jazz artists.
Julius Hemphill (1938-1995) was born in the "Hot End" of Fort Worth, Texas during the days of segregation. He went to Lincoln University where he majored in English and took composition lessons. He lived an eclectic life (he briefly toured with Ike and Tina Turner as well as played St. Louis jazz clubs while editing a local newspaper), before founding the Black Artists Group, a collective of musicians, dancers and artists loosely modeled on the famous Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). After a decade of experimental playing that took him to Sweden and landed him in New York, Hemphill helped found the World Saxophone Quartet. His composition career ventured into other territory as well. The Kronos Quartet commissioned the string quartet Mingus Gold from him, and he wrote works for solo and chamber piano.
Alex Harding is a baritone saxophonist born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He spent over 20 years living and working in New York City as a professional musician, touring and recording with legendary artists including Abdullah Ibrahim, the Roy Hargrove Big Band, Lester Bowie, Muhal Richard Abrams, the David Murray Big Band, Jane Cortez and the Fire Spitters, Andy González, Hamiet Bluiett’s Baritone Nation, Oliver Lake’s Big Band, David Lee Roth, the Sun Ra Arkestra, Aretha Franklin, and Julius Hemphill’s Saxophone Sextet.
