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Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Rhythm and Blues (World Saxophone Quartet album)

1989 album by World Saxophone Quartet

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionNov 7, 2025
Entity authorityQ7321929 ↗
Source-derived summary

Rhythm and Blues is an album by the jazz group the World Saxophone Quartet, released on the Elektra label. The album features performances by Hamiet Bluiett, Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake and David Murray and was first released in 1989.

Reception

The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow stated, "The combination works quite well on this surprising success."

The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings wrote: "The soul staples covered on Rhythm and Blues... are done with absolute conviction and seriousness."

Geoffrey Himes, writing for The Washington Post, praised the group's "sumptuous sound," and commented: "David Murray and Julius Hemphill conjure up the rich voices of Redding and Gaye on their horns (and Hamiet Bluiett's deep baritone sax resembles the bass voice of the Coasters' Bobby Nunn). The arrangements refract the vocal melody into three simultaneous alternatives that proceed while Bluiett honks his strong bass lines."

In an article for the Chicago Tribune, Chris Heim wrote: "Rhythm and Blues focuses on a well-known sound. The group faces special challenges here, since the original versions of these nine tracks... relied heavily not only on a rhythm section, but also on a powerful singing voice. But WSQ suggests all that and more.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Rhythm and Blues (World Saxophone Quartet album)” as 1989 album by World Saxophone Quartet. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1989—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1989. The account is most persuasive where Rhythm, Blues and World can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1989 album by World Saxophone Quartet. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 7, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7321929. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1989.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Rhythm and Blues (World Saxophone Quartet album)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Rhythm and Blues (World Saxophone Quartet album) primary sources, Rhythm and Blues (World Saxophone Quartet album) archive and Rhythm research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Rhythm and Blues (World Saxophone Quartet album)”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Rhythm and Blues (World Saxophone Quartet album)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.