Hamiet Bluiett

The Clarinet Family records a concert that Hamiet Bluiett gave with an ensemble of eight clarinettists, plus bass and drums, in November 1984 at the Berlin Philharmonic hall during the Berliner Festspiele. Bluiett was a baritone saxophonist: a member of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis in the 1960s, then of Charles Mingus's quintet, and in 1977 a founder of the World Saxophone Quartet with Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill and David Murray. The Clarinet Family was one of his side projects, and on this record Discogs credits him only on E-flat alto clarinet. CAM Jazz describes the performance as acoustic, with no amplification except a bass amplifier on For Macho.

The reed line covers the whole family. J.D. Parran moves between sopranino, soprano, alto and contra-alto clarinets, Kidd Jordan plays the BB-flat contrabass clarinet, and Don Byron and Buddy Collette are among the soprano, alto and bass clarinettists, with three more players in the section. Fred Hopkins is on bass and Ronnie Burrage on drums. The concert was produced by Total Foundamental Arts, and Giovanni Bonandrini is credited as executive producer of the release. The programme runs to nine pieces. The longest, To Be There, is a sixteen-minute piece in memory of Duke Ellington, and the opener Sub-Jump and For Macho each last close to ten minutes. With a single bassist on stage, Solo Bass Improvisation No. 1 belongs to Hopkins, and the credits include a poem by Quincy Troupe. River Niger and the short Song For Mama close the set.

This is the Black Saint CD 120097-2, which Discogs lists as a reissue of the album first released in 1987 as BSR 0097.