Hamiet Bluiett

Hamiet Bluiett
Hamiet Bluiett
	File:Hamiet Bluiett.jpg Oliver Lake and Hamiet Bluiett
Background information
Born	September 16, 1940; Brooklyn, Illinois
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Baritone saxophone, flute, bass saxophone, E-flat alto clarinet, E-flat contra-alto clarinet
Years active	1961–
Associated acts	World Saxophone Quartet, D.D. Jackson, Kahil El'Zabar
Website	http://hamietbluiett.com/

Hamiet Bluiett (born September 16, 1940, Brooklyn, or Lovejoy, Illinois; surname pronounced BLUE-ett) is an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. His primary instrument is the baritone saxophone, and he is considered one of the finest living players of this instrument. A member of the World Saxophone Quartet, he also plays (and records with) the bass saxophone, E-flat alto clarinet, E-flat contra-alto clarinet, and wooden flute.^[1]

Biography

Bluiett was born just north of East St. Louis in Brooklyn, Illinois (also known as Lovejoy), a predominantly African-American village that had been founded as a free black refuge community in the 1830s, and which later became America's first majority-black town. As a child, he studied piano, trumpet, and clarinet, but was attracted most strongly to the baritone saxophone from the age of ten. He began his musical career by playing the clarinet for barrelhouse dances in Brooklyn, Illinois, before joining the Navy band in 1961. He attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

In his mid-twenties, Bluiett heard Harry Carney (the baritone player in the Duke Ellington band) play in a live concert in Boston, which also made a strong impression on the young Bluiett, providing an example of a baritone saxophonist who played as soloist rather than accompanist.

Following his time in the Navy, he returned to the St. Louis area in the mid-1960s. In the late 1960s Bluiett co-founded the Black Artists' Group (BAG) of St. Louis, Missouri, a collective dedicated to fostering creative work in theater, visual arts, dance, poetry, film, and music. He led the BAG big band during 1968 and 1969.

Bluiett moved to New York City in the fall of 1969, where he joined the Charles Mingus Quintet and the Sam Rivers large ensemble. In 1976 he co-founded the World Saxophone Quartet along with two other Black Artists' Group members, Julius Hemphill and Oliver Lake, as well as multi-reedist David Murray. He has remained a champion of the somewhat unwieldy baritone saxophone, organizing large groups of baritone saxophones. Since the 1990s Bluiett has led a virtuosic quartet, the Bluiett Baritone Nation, made up entirely of baritone saxophones, with drum set accompaniment.

In the 1980s, he also founded the Clarinet Family, a group of eight clarinetists playing clarinets of various sizes ranging from E-flat soprano to contrabass. Bluiett has also worked with Sam Rivers, Babatunde Olatunji, Abdullah Ibrahim, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye.

He returned to his hometown of Brooklyn, Illinois, in 2002 but moved back to New York City in 2012. He currently performs at gigs, including the New Haven Jazz Festival on August 22, 2009. He performed with students from Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, CT. The group were known as Hamiet Bluiett and the Improvisational Youth Orchestra.

Mingus(1972-1975)

In 1972, Bluiett joined Charles Mingus and toured to Europe with him. He would often play off and on with him, leaving at some points to play with another band, but would come back a year later. In 1974, Bluiett returned to Mingus and played in quintet alongside George Adams. He also performed in Mingus at Carnegie Hall. He continued to play with Mingus until 1975, when he left to make his own recordings as a leader.

Discography

As leader

1976: Endangered Species (India Navigation)
1977: Bars (Musica Records)
1977: Resolution (Black Saint)
1978: Birthright (India Navigation)
1979: Im/Possible to Keep (India Navigation)
1981: Dangerously Suite (Soul Note)
1984: Ebu (Soul Note)
1987: The Clarinet Family (Black Saint)
1991: If You Have To Ask You Don't Need To Know (Tutu)
1993: Nali Kola (Soul Note)
1993: Sankofa / Rear Garde (Soul Note)
1996: Bluiett's Barbecue Band (Mapleshade Records)
1997: Ballads and Blues: Live at the Village Vanguard (Soul Note)
1997: Makin' Whoopee: Tribute to the King Cole Trio (Mapleshade Records)
1998: Bluiett Baritone Saxophone Group Live at the Knitting Factory (Knitting Factory)
1998: Bluiett Baritone Nation: Libation for the Baritone Saxophone Nation (Justin Time)
1999: Join Us (Justin Time) (with D. D. Jackson and Mor Thiam)
2000: With Eyes Wide Open (Justin Time)
2001: The Calling with D. D. Jackson and Kahil El'Zabar
2002: Blueblack

With the World Saxophone Quartet

Title	Year	Label
Point of No Return	1977	Moers Music
Steppin' with the World Saxophone Quartet	1979	Black Saint
W.S.Q.	1981	Black Saint
Revue	1982	Black Saint
Live in Zurich	1984	Black Saint
Live at Brooklyn Academy of Music	1986	Black Saint
Plays Duke Ellington	1986	Elektra / Nonesuch
Dances and Ballads	1987	Elektra / Nonesuch
Rhythm and Blues	1989	Elektra / Nonesuch
Metamorphosis	1991	Elektra / Nonesuch
Moving Right Along	1993	Black Saint
Breath of Life	1994	Elektra / Nonesuch
Four Now	1996	Justin Time
Takin' It 2 the Next Level	1996	Justin Time
Selim Sivad: a Tribute to Miles Davis	1998	Justin Time
Requiem for Julius	2000	Justin Time
25th Anniversary: The New Chapter	2001	Justin Time
Steppenwolf	2002	Justin Time
Experience	2004	Justin Time
Political Blues	2006	Justin Time
Yes We Can^[2]	2010	Jazzwerkstatt