StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The BAG legacy, part 2

This week, let's check out some more videos featuring music made by former members of the influential Black Artists Group, which existed here in St. Louis from 1968 to 1972 and helped launch the careers of a number of notable creative musicians. Today's focus is on two of the most prominent BAG alumni, alto saxophonist Oliver Lake and baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett.

(You can see the first part of this series, featuring the only known online videos of a "core" BAG ensemble plus full sets of two of the groups it spawned, the World Saxophone Quartet and Bluiett's Clarinet Family, here. A third installment next week will feature videos from some other members of BAG.)

Today's first three clips show off some different aspects of the work of Oliver Lake, starting up above with a full set of his big band, recorded in October 2017 at Roulette in Brooklyn, NY. While a number of different soloists including the leader are featured at various points, the compositions and arrangements are all Lake's, and together give a good sample of some of his ideas for large ensemble.

After the jump, you can see two more videos featuring Lake, both recorded in October 2014 when he was curating a week-long residency at the creative music performance space The Stone in New York City. The first is a trio set featuring Lake, drummer Andrew Cyrille and bassist Santi Debriano, and the second documents Lake's Organ Quartet, with trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, organist Jared Gold, drummer Chris Beck and special guest, tenor saxophonist Billy Harper.

The next three videos show Bluiett with three different ensembles, starting with a trio set recorded in January 2016 in NYC featuring Bluiett with bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake. Given Drake's affiliation with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), this group represents a meeting of improvisational styles forged among similarly minded musicians in both St. Louis and Chicago.

The following clip captures part of a set by a sextet led by Bluiett in 1999 at the Knitting Factory in NYC, in which the leader is joined by guitarist Ed Cherry, bassist Jaribu Shahid, percussionists Chief Bey and Leopoldo Fleming, and drummer Nasheet Waits.

Last but not least, there's a full set from the group billed as Hamiet Bluiett's Bio-Electric Ensemble, recorded during the annual Vision Festival in June 2013 at Roulette, and featuring Bluiett, Hamid Drake, pianist D.D. Jackson, bassist Harrison Bankhead, and what has to have been one of the first high-profile gigs for the young keyboard phenom Matthew Whittaker, then just 12 years old. (Whitaker, a New Jersey native who's still just 19 years old, headlined a weekend at Jazz St. Louis last season.)

Look for more videos featuring musicians associated with BAG next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...