Marty Ehrlich - Open Air: The Complete Saxophone Quartet Compositions of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head Records, 2026) *****

By Gary Chapin

For the dedicated fans of wind player, composer, and teacher Julius Hemphill, the last two years are shaping up to be an extraordinary era of listening and tribute. Hemphill passed away in 1995 and though he never fell away from the community’s eye, we seem, currently, to be paying much more attention. For a good bit of that,it seems we have Marty Ehrlich to thank. Ehrlich worked with Hemphill and his music over the decades, showing that connection clearly in his own body of work. In 2022 New World released The Boyé Multi-National Crusade For Harmony (reviewed here), a 7 disc set of unreleased archival Hemphill recordings, curated by Ehrlich.

Now we are presented with Open Air: The Complete Saxophone Quartet Compositions of Julius Hemphill . We don’t need to ask which quartet we’re talking about. Hemphill’s work (along with Oliver Lake, David Murray, and Hamiet Bluett) as a co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet did not createthe sax quartet, but did so much to map its possibilities and implications that it’s hard to imagine how the sax quartet got along before their work.

But there’s more. Two thirds of the music Hemphill wrote for sax quartet was recorded by the WSQ, but one third of the music here (14 or so tracks) was discovered in Hemphill’s papers after his death. Ehrlich discovered these while doing archive work with Hemphill’s publisher. It’s somewhat amazing to encounter, 30 years after Hemphill’s death, 14 new pieces for saxophone quartet. It’s like suddenly discovering 14 new Goldberg Variations.

(And, no, I do not agree that this is an overwrought analogy. Here’s a bias check for you: there are times when I’m listening to Hemphill’s quartets and I’m completely taken over. In the reverie or ecstasy or elation of those moments, I have been known to think things like, “When God said, let there be music, this is exactly what he was talking about!” I’m not saying I can argue a rational basis for that view, just that sometimes you can look to your elation for a truer kind of truth.)

Ehrlich forms a clutch of saxophonists—Allan Chase, Rob Debellis, Brian Landrus, Andy Laster, Jeff Lederer, Lisa Parrott, and Jason Robinson—into a few quartets, recording the whole body of work over a number of months in 2025.

The listening is exactly as one would hope. With faithful, passionate, and fascinated renditions of the tunes by musicians who love them, and infused with improvisation that leads to revelation. For example, the WSQ piece, “Revue,” is perhaps the best known sax quartet piece out there, and listening, I can’t help but expect the solo from the WSQ’s second album to come after the statement of the head. It’s a dumb expectation, of course, but Brian Landrus’s solo takes me by surprise and winds along a path that returns to the tune by a way I’ve never been before. The harmonies and ensemble playing of this choir of sax angels can be heart stopping, but the solo on top of those are just as amazing.

Ehrlich has shown—particularly on The Hard Blues by his Julius Hemphill Sextet—that he can render the master’s work with skill and authenticity. It’s important because this music is not just interesting and brilliant. It is hard, bluesy, and culturally real as anything you can imagine. It is exactly this mixture of “Stax funk and ‘out’ sensibilities” (to use Tim Berne’s phrase), mixed with an intellectual playfulness, that made Hemphill the composer that he was and keeps me obsessed with his oeuvre thirty years after he’s gone. In case I have to say it, 5 stars.

Other release...

Circle the Heart - Marty Ehrlich and Julius Hemphill (Relative Pitch, 2026)

Circle the Heart also explores the saxophone choir space (a duo is a subset of a choir, right?) and gives us insight into the musical collaboration of Hemphill and Ehrlich. The set is a discovered recording of a glorious 1982 concert. Of six tunes, all are Ehrlich compositions save the last, and, in an odd way, this seems only to confirm the shared DNA between the two. Besides, the intrigue is in the improv. The two are so in tune with each other that it’s not enough to call their duo a conversation, so much as a telepathic bonding. Again, I may be over-egging the metaphor, but it really is that good. 

 

Dogon A.D. - Julius Hemphill (New World Records)

Dogon A.D. may be the most cited gateway drug to outmusic of any record out there. The 1972 masterpiece—with its title track in an insanely addictive 11—was re-released in 2011 by International Phonograph. FJB reviewed it here, giving it five stars and listing it as one of the top 20 free jazz recs of all time. That New World is re-releasing it—remastered and co-produced by the ubiquitous Ehrlich—is only good news. I just thought I’d bring it to your attention.