World Saxophone Quartet

CD version. Live In Zürich catches the World Saxophone Quartet on stage at the Zürich jazz festival on November 6, 1981. Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, David Murray and Hamiet Bluiett play with no rhythm section, and the set is built almost entirely on Hemphill's writing. Six of the eight pieces are his. The other two are Bluiett's Hattie Wall, a short riff that opens the concert and returns to close it.

Hemphill plays alto and soprano saxophone and flute, Lake alto, tenor and soprano saxophone and flute, Murray tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, and Bluiett baritone saxophone, alto clarinet and alto flute. The concert was recorded by Ron Kurz and mixed by Peter Heuberger, with the group producing and Giovanni Bonandrini as executive producer, and Leonard Feather wrote the notes. Funny Paper, Touchic and Stick sit around five minutes each, while My First Winter, at nearly seven, is a feature for Murray's tenor. Bordertown and Steppin' are the longest tracks, at seven and a half and just over seven minutes. Tom Hull, in his David Murray guide (2020), hears Hemphill's pieces "played slow and soft enough to focus on complex harmony rather than indulging in the thrash that gladiators are prone to". The two Hattie Wall statements last under two minutes each, so the record moves from Bluiett's blues riff into close to forty minutes of Hemphill and back out again.

Black Saint CD 120077-2, which Discogs lists as a reissue, with a 1984 copyright, of the album first released on LP in 1984 as BSR 0077.