OUT NOW The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (OOYH 035)

OUT TODAY! The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (OOYH 035), featuring Curtis Stewart and Sam Bardfeld on violin, Stephanie Griffin on viola, and Tomeka Reid on cello, releases today April 4, 2025 on Out Of Your Head Records in LP + CD + digital formats. The recording features Mingus Gold, Hemphill’s deeply original take on three Mingus compositions originally commissioned by the Kronos String Quartet, and four World Saxophone Quartet pieces penned by Hemphill. Notably, this is the first studio recording ever made of Mingus Gold (the only extant version being a live recording by the Daedalus Quartet) and the first string quartet recordings of any of the great WSQ original repertoire.

There is an album release concert on April 16 at the Greenwich House in NYC, and both CDs and LPs are in stock and shipping now! The album art + design is by TJ Huff, featuring a photo of Julius Hemphill by Nina Contini Melis. Stay tuned for a Wax Mage announcement coming soon...we haven’t seen them yet, but we have reason to believe it’ll be a doozy. Liner notes in both the LP and CD are by Kevin Whitehead. Go listen, we think you will love this music (we do)!!

“The Hemphill Stringtet gives the chamber music treatment to Hemphill’s blues-leaning music with such expressive depth, lyrical beauty and adventurous fervor that it will surely stop you in your tracks in amazement.” —Brad Cohan, Treble Zine

“The ensemble here plays brilliantly together, the lines between the written and the improvised keeping everything mobile.” —Liam Noble, London Jazz News