Dogan AD

Description

Julius Hemphill’s first album, *Dogon A.D.* (1972), was self-produced for his Mbari label and came out with a beautiful black and white cover, a very homemade effort. The label name, spelled out in large type on the bottom spine, as if it were the name of the band. The quartet features Hemphill on alto saxophone and flute, Baikida Carroll on trumpet, Abdul Wadud on cello, and Phillip Wilson on drums—a classic jazz setup of rhythm section and horn section, but with a thoroughly original sound. The extended title track is a major epic work of the new jazz of its time. Among its remarkable particularities, the track mines the schizophrenic background of Wilson, formerly of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the first drummer for the Art Ensemble of Chicago, to transform an 11/8 rhythm into an irresistible funk blast. For fourteen-and-a-half minutes, Hemphill constructs a quasi-continuous solo, while his spiritual brother, Wadud, saws at the cello with deep blues soul, raw yet incantatory, almost mantric. The tune sounds both right and wrong, the theme possessing its own flavor, with rustic dissonances and contrary motion between horns and strings. Most of all, it takes its time, not in a hurry to get anywhere, but rather for an idyllic stroll. - John Corbett (excerpt from the liner notes)