OUT NOW Marty Ehrlich - OPEN AIR: The Complete Quartet Compositions of Julius Hemphill (OOYH 047)

Marty Ehrlich - OPEN AIR: The Complete Saxophone Quartet Compositions of Julius Hemphill (OOYH 047) is out now on 2xCD + digital/streaming. OPEN AIR is a monumental achievement and an important document of one of the most important composers in the history of jazz, presenting the complete catalog of Julius Hemphill compositions for saxophone quartet in one place for the first time. Quite a few of these works have never previously been recorded, others are well known from the original recordings by the World Saxophone Quartet. CDs are in stock and shipping, and you can purchase the full album digitally on Bandcamp. Volume I is out today on streaming (tracks 1-21) and Volume II (tracks 22-42) will be released on streaming on September 25. Link to all in the comments.

The cover features art by Marty and Julius’ longtime collaborator Oliver Lee Jackson, with layout + design by TJ Huff. Marty Ehrlich photo credit Erika Kapin.

The great James Newton on OPEN AIR:

Marty Ehrlich has brilliantly and lovingly brought these benchmark compositions of his friend/mentor/collaborator into a series of six galleries: Open Air; Another Feeling; Cool Red; Romance In Time; Border Town; and Fixed Signs. I love both the older and new interpretations of these great compositions. Ehrlich has continued the overdubbing tradition of Hemphill on many tracks, and for other compositions’ recordings in the canon, a full live sax quartet. Ehrlich’s masterful, highly evolved and flexible artistry, and rare view of the historic and contemporary, allow him to masterfully shape this marathon walkabout in Julius Hemphill’s Complete Saxophone Quartet Compositions. I hope that this recording stimulates many new performances and recordings for a composer who long ago produced what the “market” seems to be clamoring for. Long live his greatness, and again, many thanks to the brilliant curation, dedication, and performances of Marty Ehrlich and his colleagues Alan Chase, Robert DeBellis, Sam Furnace, Alex Harding, Brian Landrus, Andy Laster, Jeff Lederer, Lisa Parrott, Jason Robinson, and Andrew White.