StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The BAG legacy, part one

For the next couple of weeks, let's revisit part of St. Louis creative music history by looking at some videos featuring musicians who were part of the Black Artists Group, a multi-arts collective that produced music, poetry, dance, theater and visual arts here from 1968 to 1972.

Partly inspired by and operating similarly to Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), BAG helped launch the careers of a number of notable musicians, including saxophonists Hamiet Bluiett, Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake and J.D. Parran; trumpeters Baikida Carroll and Floyd LeFlore, trombonist Joseph Bowie, drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw, and more.

At its peak, the group was getting funding from organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation and the Danforth Foundation to present performances and educational programs in local schools, as well as from their headquarters at 2665 Washington Blvd in what's now the Grand Center district.

By 1972, much of that funding had dried up, and most of the BAG musicians moved on, some heading to Europe and subsequently to New York City, where a number of them would play significant roles in the "loft jazz" scene of the 1970s.

Though not much documentation survives of what BAG did during its busiest years, there was one "official" album credited to the group, In Paris, Aries 1973, which, as the title implies, was recorded in Europe while a number of the musicians were living there as expatriates.

The first video up above, also recorded in 1973 in Paris, is part of what seems to be the only footage available online of an ensemble billed as the Black Artists Group, in this case including Lake, Carroll, Bowie, guitarist Jimmy Jones, and drummer Donald Robinson. The performance continues after the jump in today's second video.

Even though BAG may have been relatively short-lived, its influence continued to be felt through the continuing careers of the musicians who were part of it. One of the most significant groups to emerge after BAG was the World Saxophone Quartet, formed in 1977 by Lake, Bluiett, Hemphill, and saxophonist David Murray.

Their innovations, combining free jazz with arranged material in a band without a traditional rhythm section, proved to be both artistically influential and relatively popular by the non-commercial standards of creative music.

You can see and hear the WSQ's original lineup in the third video, recorded in 1987 at JazzFest Berlin in Germany and featuring material from their 1986 album Plays Duke Ellington.

Around that same time, Bluiett pursued a somewhat-similar concept with his band Clarinet Family, bringing together a half-dozen clarinetists including fellow St. Louisan and ex-BAG member J.D. Parran for a 1984 recording on the Black Saint label and live performances including the fourth video, a full set of music recorded in November 1984, also in Berlin.

The fifth video is an interview of Lake and Bluiett, recorded in March 2014, and the final clip is an interview with Bluiett alone, recorded in 2016 under the auspices of instrument makers P Mauriat North America.

While these clips just begin to scratch the surface, the history of the Black Artists Group was documented extensively in the 2004 book BAG: Point from which creation begins: the Black Artists' Group of St. Louis, written by Benjamin Looker, then a graduate of Washington University working on a master's at Yale, now an associate professor of American Studies at St. Louis University.

You can listen to interviews with Looker, Parran and another former BAG member, playwright and poet Malinke Elliott, in a 2006 episode of St. Louis Public Radio's "St. Louis History in Black and White" podcast. In February of that same year, several ex-members of BAG and Looker also took part in a symposium at Washington University exploring BAG's history and legacy.

Lake spoke about his experiences with BAG in a 2017 interview with Bandcamp Daily, and also was interviewed briefly by Psychedelic Baby magazine in 2018 when In Paris, Aries 1973 got a limited-edition reissue from Aguirre Records.

There's also a documentary film about BAG that's been in production for several years, with a trailer here and a Facebook page, though there's still no word about when the film might be released.

Next week, we'll take a look at some more music from Oliver Lake and Hamiet Bluiett, as well as videos featuring other former members of the Black Artists Group. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Hamiet Bluiett 1940 - 2018

Hamiet Bluiett, a native of Brooklyn, IL who co-founded the World Saxophone Quartet and redefined the capabilities of the baritone sax in improvised music, died Thursday, October 4 at St. Louis University Hospital. He was 78 years old.

Bluiett, whose birthday was September 16, had been gravely ill for some time, and according to a Facebook post from his daughter Anaya, was taken off respiratory support last week.

As a child, Bluiett (pictured) studied piano, trumpet, and clarinet before settling on baritone saxophone at the age of ten. He played his first local gigs in Brooklyn, East St. Louis, and elsewhere as a teenager, and after graduating from high school, served in the Navy band starting in 1961.

Returning to St. Louis after his stint in the Navy, Bluiett helped found the Black Artists Group, leading the BAG big band for two years before the group split up and some members moved to Europe.

Bluiett moved to New York City in 1969, working with Charles Mingus, saxophonist Sam Rivers' big band, and others. Then in December 1976, he played what was supposed to have been a one-off concert in New Orleans with alto saxophonists and former BAG members Julius Hemphill and Oliver Lake and tenor saxophonist and clarinetist David Murray.

That led directly to the official founding in 1977 of the World Saxophone Quartet, which subsequently turned out to be a significant musical outlet for all four members, touring and performing at major festivals, concert halls and clubs all over the globe for the next 30 years.

With the WSQ and in other projects, Bluiett pushed the baritone sax beyond previously perceived limits, playing with speed, precision, range, and timbral variation rivaling that usually heard from the best alto and tenor players of his time. In mid-career, he also picked up the clarinet again and began incorporating it into some of his performances.

Further exploring the idea of groups of similar instruments playing together, Bluiett later formed the Bluiett Baritone Nation, made up entirely of baritone saxophones (plus a drummer), and Clarinet Family, a group of eight clarinetists playing clarinets of various sizes.

In all, Bluiett recorded more than 20 albums with the World Saxophone Quartet, plus nearly two dozen as a leader on labels including India Navigation, Black Saint, Soul Note, and Justin Time. He also recorded or performed with drummer Beaver Harris' 360 Degree Music Experience, saxophonist James Carter (a latter-day substitute member of WSQ, who Bluiett considered something of a protege), arranger and pianist Gil Evans, pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, and numerous others.

Beset with back problems and other ailments, Bluiett moved back to Brooklyn in 2002, then returned to New York City in 2012 for several years, until a series of strokes starting in 2014 led him to move back to the Midwest once again a couple of years ago.

Bluiett in 2006 was the subject of a video profile from the KETC program Living St. Louis, which can be seen online here.

He is survived by two sons, Pierre Butler and Dennis Bland, and two daughters, Ayana Bluiett and Bridgett Vasquaz; a sister, Karen Ratliff; and eight grandchildren. Bluiett was married twice, with one marriage ending with the death of his wife and the other in divorce.

On a personal note, I had the chance to interview Hamiet Bluiett a couple of times, once for the short-lived "New Music St. Louis" program on KDHX in the mid-1990s, and again (briefly) for the Riverfront Times in 2006 before the WSQ played at what then was called Jazz at the Bistro. He was an entertaining and informative interview subject, as well as an outstanding musician, and he'll be missed greatly.

A funeral service for Hamiet Bluiett will be held at 10:00 a.m. Friday, October 12 at Lovejoy Temple Church of God, 511 Canal Street in Brooklyn, IL, followed by burial at 12:30 p.m. at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.

(Updated 10/7/18 with information about survivors and funeral services.)

GoFundMe campaign set up to raise money for saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett

Baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett is ailing, and family members have set up a page at the website GoFundMe to raise money to help him.

From the message posted to the page by Bluiett's granddaughter Anaya:

"Recently, he's been hospitalized for several months because he has had numerous strokes and seizures. He was in the critical intensive care unit, then the hospital and two rehabs to help him get back to himself but it's still going to take some time. I am trying to raise money for him for his bills and traveling expenses, since he no longer will be able to work."

Considered by many fans and critics to be the top baritone saxophonist of his generation, Bluiett (pictured) originally is from Brooklyn, IL (aka Lovejoy), just across the river from St. Louis, and attended SIU-Carbondale.

Now 76 years old, Bluiett first gained wide recognition in the jazz world in the late 1960s as a member of the Black Artists Group, and then went on to form the World Saxophone Quartet with fellow BAG members Oliver Lake and Julius Hemphill plus David Murray.

In addition to more than 20 albums with the WSQ, Bluiett has made a similar number of recordings as a bandleader, and also has performed or recorded with well-known jazz and improvisational musicians including Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, Anthony Braxton, Kahil El'Zabar, the Music Revelation Ensemble, and many others.

(On a more personal note, as longtime StLJN readers may have noticed, yr. humble editor is a big fan of Bluiett's many musical contributions to our culture. I've also interviewed him a couple of times, and found him to be candid, funny, and very quotable.) 

To find out more or to contribute to the GoFundMe campaign supporting Hamiet Bluiett, go here.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The further adventures of Hamiet Bluiett

With the holidays coming up, the jazz concert schedule here in St. Louis is relatively devoid of touring attractions for the next couple of weeks. So let's take the opportunity to catch up with some of the recent activities of one of our favorite musicians with local roots, the great baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett.

Bluiett was born and raised in southern Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, and after decades of living in New York, re-established residency in the metro east a few years ago. Though he's been a more frequent presence on the local scene since then, he still spends a good bit of time in NYC, and also continues to tour, both as a solo artist and with the World Saxophone Quartet.

Today, we'll take a look at just a couple of the projects Bluiett was involved in during the past year. The first clip was recorded in August at the Eddie Lang Jazz Festival at Pignatelli Castle in Monteroduni, Italy, and features some trio music from Bluiett, bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Lee Pearson. In the second clip, they're joined by the Telepathic Improvisational Orchestra, a group of student musicians taking part in the festival's educational program, for a big band arrangement directed by Bluiett and featuring a skronky bari solo that starts about three minutes in.

Below that, there's a four-part documentary on the meeting earlier this year between the World Saxophone Quartet (co-founded by Bluiett, former St. Louisans Oliver Lake and the late Julius Hemphill, and David Murray) and the all-percussion ensemble M'Boom, which was started in 1970 by the late, legendary drummer Max Roach and recently revived by surviving members Warren Smith, Ray Mantilla and Joe Chambers.

The two groups first came together in 1981 for a concert at the the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC. They reunited in January 2010 for a series of dates at Birdland in NYC and a European tour, and in the clips below, you'll see interviews with members of both groups as well as some performance footage from those dates. Here's hoping that a full-length performance film will be forthcoming at some point...

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Live performances from Oliver Lake and Russell Gunn

Two former St. Louisans from different generations, saxophonist Oliver Lake and trumpeter Russell Gunn, will share a stage here next week as Jazz at the Bistro hosts four nights of Lake's Organ Trio with Gunn as special guest. (Jazz St. Louis is offering a special two-for-the-price-of-one deal on tickets for the Lake/Gunn extravaganza; see this post for details.)

Both men have been the subject of previous video posts here - Lake most recently in September, when he performed with Trio 3 at Luna Bar under the auspices of the Nu-Art Series, and Gunn back in June 2008 - and I had hoped this time out to be able to share some clips of Lake's Organ Trio, but alas, there seem to be none to be found online, with or without Gunn.

Instead, we've got a couple of clips each from both Lake and Gunn, all previously unseen here. First up is an excerpt in two parts from a performance by Lake's trio at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2009 in Germany. According to the notes on the video, this was the first time in 25 years that Lake, guitarist Michael Gregory and drummer Pheeroan akLaff had played together. In this segment, Lake solos briefly, yields the floor to AkLaff for a while, then returns to instigate some three-way interaction.

Down below, we go back in time with a much older clip of Lake performing with the World Saxophone Quartet, probably from 1986 or 1987. It's the original lineup of the WSQ, playing their superb arrangement of "Lush Life," which was recorded for the 1986 album World Saxophone Quartet Plays The Music of Duke Ellington. The clip hasn't gotten many views on YouTube, perhaps because it's not labeled with the song title, let alone the performance date or location, but it's a choice version of the tune, and, from what I can tell, the only WSQ performance of it available on video.

Below that, we're back in the present day with a clip of Gunn, who now lives in Atlanta, fronting a funkified, guitar-drive trio at the Half Note Jazz Club in Athens, GA Greece. The view is shaky and often obscured by audience members walking in front of the camera, but the sound is good, and the clip serves as a representative example of Gunn's approach to electric music.

To close out today's set, there's a video of Gunn jamming some straight-up bebop with drummer Chris Burroughs' Collective at a gig in Atlanta. This version of Charlie Parker's "Au Privave" begins with a trumpet solo by Gunn, followed by a trumpet solo by Dashill Smith, a piano solo by Kenny Banks, and ends with Gunn and Burroughs trading off some two and fours. Craig Shaw rounds out the group on bass.

(Edited 12/17/09 to correct the location of the Half Note Club.)

StLJN Saturday at the Movies:The World Saxophone Quartet plays the music of Jimi Hendrix

This week's videos feature the World Saxophone Quartet performing a couple of selections first heard on the 2004 CD Experience, the WSQ's tribute to the music of guitarist Jimi Hendrix. The clips were recorded at a show in Seattle (Hendrix's home town) and feature founding members Oliver Lake, Hamiet Bluiett and David Murray along with latter-day member Bruce Williams performing Hendrix's "If 6 Was 9" (above) and "Foxy Lady" (below).

WSQ tracks available for free download

The cool cats at Destination: Out, one of StLJN's fave music-sharing blogs, have once again posted some tracks with a St. Louis connection, offering up two cuts from the World Saxophone Quartet's 1982 album Revue in their latest missive. You can download "Little Samba" and "Hymn for the Old Year" and read the commentary here.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies:World Saxophone Quartet in Lovejoy, plus the Greg Osby 4 live in Philadelphia

This week, we've got two more videos featuring saxophonists with St. Louis connections, plus the chance for you, the reader, to play "Name That Tune."

The first clip is from October, 2006, when the World Saxophone Quartet were in St. Louis to play a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. While in town, they also took part in one of Jazz St. Louis educational programs, heading over to Lovejoy, IL - the hometown of WSQ baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett - to perform for and talk with student at Lovejoy High School, and we see one number from that performance here. For this gig, the WSQ lineup consisted of mainstays Bluiett and Oliver Lake (alto sax), plus supersub James Carter on tenor sax, and Greg Osby, another St. Louis native, filling the spot originated by alto saxophonist Julius Hemphill.

As for the composition, I know I've heard the WSQ play this before, either live or on record, but the name escapes me. Perhaps one of you astute readers who recognizes the tune can set me straight in the comments.

Today's second video features Osby again, this time leading his own band, the Greg Osby 4, in a recent gig at the Philadelphia club Zanzibar Blue. The clip is a series of excerpts, with a couple of jarring edits and some titles that keep popping up every 60 seconds or so, but there's some nice playing by Osby, Jangeun Bae on piano and Damion Reid on drums. Bassist Matt Parrish rounds out the group, though he's a bit hard to hear on this recording. Again, there was no indication on the clip as to the name of the composition(s), so if you know what they're playing, please share that knowledge with the world in comments.