World Saxophone Quartet + M`BOOM

Hamiet Bluiett (baritone sax, clarinet), David Murray (tenor sax, bass clarinet), Oliver Lake (alto and soprano sax), James Carter (tenor sax).
M’BOOM: Eli Fountain  (percussion), Ray Mantilla (conga, percussion), Steve Barrios (conga, Latin percussion), Warren Smith (timpani)

33 years further down the line, three of the four original members are still members of the World Saxophone Quartet. A quartet that has always excelled in demonstrating the unexpected possibilities when four unaccompanied wind instruments play together. With the percussion ensemble M’Boom also appearing with them, sparks are certain to fly.

The World Saxophone Quartet first saw the light of day in 1977 and soon became the undisputed leader in that genre of ensembles. The group was not only composed of four self-willed soloists, but also of four  imaginative composers. The foursome is able to sound like a reed section of a big band, like a few beautifully tuned organ pipes or an instrumental doo wop group. Although created in an avant-garde atmosphere, the band proved right away that they could swing, and at the same time weren’t afraid of adventurous improvisation and more challenging compositions. Even though the focus of the band is on saxophones, the members of WSQ weren’t unable to hide the fact that they were multi-instrumentalists. The band gradually started to appear at concerts with a large variety of wind instruments, such as all sorts of clarinets, which then began to alter the tone and texture of the music. They also mixed jazz and the more popular elements from blues, funk and African jazz in their music.

Their real strength lay in their live performances where their commitment, dedication, interactive playing and the way in which the instruments interwove through one another along with the irresistible beauty of some of their performances when the WSQ would sometimes seem to be playing like a classical string quartet. In the eighties the band grew to a new creative height. They also signed a contract with a major record label. The group blended jazz-oriented though harmonically adventurous improvisations with sophisticated compositions. ‘Hattie Wall’, composed by Hamiet Bluiett – who nowadays prefers to be known simply as Bluiett – has become the theme tune of the band.

Julius Hemphill, one of the original members, left the group in 1989 due to poor health. He died in 1995. Since then, his place has been taken by various musicians. The youngest member of the band is now the multi-instrumentalist James Carter, a fantastic saxophonist, clarinettist and flautist. Sometimes the band expands their line-up with the addition of drummers, bassists and other musicians. The band also gets its teeth into repertoires as varied as those of Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix. After all the years the quartet hasn’t lost anything of its original vitality.

M’BOOM is a percussion ensemble that was formed in 1970 by the celebrated drummer Max Raoch. He wanted to explore the different textures of percussion instruments. On 26 June 1981, on the initiative of Max Roach, an audience of three thousand in the cathedral of St John-the-Divine in Harlem, New York, were the first to hear a concert where M'BOOM and the World Saxophone Quartet played together. In 1994 M’BOOM played their final concert in Montreux. However, the group has reunited especially for this tour. The perfect blending of wind instruments and percussion is once again the challenge that awaits them… but more likely, it’s a forgone conclusion.