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Celebrating Silentes: Gigi Masin, Rod Modell, Aube, Maurizio Bianchi and more, with test pressings and rarities
Celebrating Silentes: Gigi Masin, Rod Modell, Aube, Maurizio Bianchi and more, with test pressings and rarities
Julius HemphillDogon A.D.Back to the record
Point of Departure

“Timeless tunes, an original group sound, liberatory cello – their appeal does not wear thin.”

Kevin Whitehead

This New World CD is by my count the fourth or fifth edition in half a century of a record that should never go out of print. Julius Hemphill released it on LP soon after its 1972 recording on his Mbari label. (Its name is writ large on the original cover; his own name did not appear. New World adds it to the facsimile cover.) He distributed it himself, and not many copies circulated. The album came out to a larger world with the 1977 version in Arista/Freedom’s new music series, with a new and striking cubistic photo-montage cover by Dennis Pohl, and liner notes by Robert Palmer which told us a bit about the West African Dogon people, and about Fort Worth–reared St. Louis–seasoned Hemphill. Curiously Palmer never IDs the backbones of Hemphill’s backbeat, cellist Abdul Wadud and ex-Paul Butterfield, ex-Art Ensemble of Chicago drummer Philip Wilson.

Originally published by Point of Departure.Read it on Point of Departure

6 other reviews

AllMusic

“It's one of the first records of the era that reflects a jazz artist melding the emotional candor of popular Black musical traditions -- blues, soul, R&B, and gospel -- with the vocabulary and spirit of free jazz without compromising either in the process.”

All About Jazz

“Listed by Ben Ratliff of the New York Times as one of 100 essential jazz recordings, Dogon A.D. is a timeless masterwork culled from the crossroads of African-American music traditions and one of the most important jazz reissues of the year.”

The Absolute Sound

“Nothing he would produce later had the raw power of his early work, which combined an avant garde sensibility with a feeling for blues playing as deep as any Texas saxophonist from Arnett Cobb to Ornette Coleman.”

Point of Departure

“Few albums have ever announced so unequivocally the arrival of a major new talent; it’s simply one of the most vital and exciting jazz albums ever recorded.”

NPR

“Hemphill's genius was to combine the Chicagoans' dramatically spare sound with a heavy backbeat.”

JazzTimes

“It became a highly coveted release for good reason: Hemphill’s raw alto and flute are joined by Baikida Carroll (trumpet), Abdul Wadud (cello) and Philip Wilson (drums) for a session based in heavy grooves despite the somewhat spare instrumentation.”