Hamiet Bluiett

Hamiet Bluiett (BLUE-et; September 16, 1940 – October 4, 2018) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. His primary instrument was the baritone saxophone, and he was considered one of the finest players of this instrument. A member of the World Saxophone Quartet, he also played (and records with) the bass saxophone, E-flat alto clarinet, E-flat contra-alto clarinet, and wooden flute.

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. In his final years, he performed 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. He died in St. Louis, Missouri on October 4, 2018 after a period of declining health.

Mingus

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)
• 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)
• 1994: Bearer of the Holy Flame (Black Fire)
• 1995: Young Warrior, Old Warrior (Mapleshade)
• 1996: Bluiett's Barbecue Band (Mapleshade)
• 1997: Ballads and Blues: Live at the Village Vanguard (Soul Note)
• 1997: Makin' Whoopee: Tribute to the King Cole Trio (Mapleshade)
• 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

As sideman

With The 360 Degree Music Experience

• In: Sanity (Black Saint, 1976)

With Lester BowieThe Great Pretender

With Anthony Braxton

• New York, Fall 1974 (Arista, 1974)

With James Carter

• Conversin' with the Elders (Atlantic, 1996)
• Out of Nowhere (Half Note, 2005)

With Gil Evans

• Live at the Public Theater (New York 1980) (Trio, 1981)
• Bud and Bird (Electric Bird/King, 1986 [1987])
• Farewell (Evidence, 1986 [1992])

With Craig Harris

• F-Stops (Soul Note, 1993)

With Abdullah Ibrahim

• The Journey (Chiaroscuro, 1977)

With the Music Revelation Ensemble

• In the Name of... (DIW, 1994)
• Knights of Power (DIW, 1996)

With David Murray

• Now Is Another Time (Justin Time, 2003)