Julius Hemphill "Parchment"

Ursula Oppens performs and discusses Julius Hemphill "Parchment" Julius Hemphill was known primarily as a great jazz musician and a founder of the World Saxophone Quartet. He was also a founder of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, which included poets and visual artists and was one of the great creative forces of the late 20th century. At Ursula's request in the early 1990's, Hemphill wrote “Parchment,” a blues piece that has just been published by Subito Music. It is sort of atonal, sort of not atonal. “My impression of the harmonies of avant-garde jazz and the harmonies of Ravel are very similar.” There are chords with more and more blues tones added.