Artist: World Saxophone Quartet

The World Saxophone Quartet is an American jazz ensemble founded in 1977, incorporating elements of free jazz, R&B, funk and South African jazz into their music.

The original members were Julius Hemphill (alto and soprano saxophone, flute), Oliver Lake (alto and soprano saxophone), Hamiet Bluiett (baritone saxophone, alto clarinet), and David Murray (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet).

Beginning in the early 1980s, the quartet used Bluiett's composition "Hattie Wall" as a signature theme for the group.

The group principally recorded and performed as a saxophone quartet, usually with a line-up of two altos, tenor, and baritone (reflecting the composition of a classical string quartet), but were also joined later in their career by drummers, bassists, and other musicians.

Occasionally other saxophonists would sit in or substitute for a tour. These guests have included Sam Rivers, Tony Kofi, Steve Potts, Branford Marsalis, James Spaulding and Jorge Sylvester.  

Further information about World Saxophone Quartet is found here.

This content was excerpted from the Wikipedia article,World Saxophone Quartet - Wikipedia , which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).