Point of No Return (World Saxophone Quartet album)

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Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[3]

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The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow stated: "In future years, World Saxophone Quartet would better temper their free solos with inventive writing, but this early set is pretty self-indulgent."^[1]

Writer Gary Giddins commented: "little on... Point of No Return suggested serious absorption in exploring the potential of a renegade sax section (Murray's hurly-burly 'Scared Sheetless' pointedly fills most of the play time), and that little bit was by Hemphill, who always preferred group conception to workaday nightly improvisation."^[4]

Todd S. Jenkins called the album "one of their most daunting documents," and described "Sacred Sheetless" as "a series of increasingly abrasive solos." He noted: "perhaps realizing that this approach was a little too overboard for their target audience, the men chose to temper their energy just a bit in future projects."^[5]

1. "Dar el Sudan" (Hemphill) - 2:48
2. "Bajou Scetches" (Bluiett) - 10:13
3. "Point of No Return" (Hemphill) - 10:32
4. "Sacred Sheetless" (Murray) - 24:26
5. "Hymn for the Old Year" (Lake) - 3:38

• Hamiet Bluiett — baritone saxophone
• Julius Hemphill — alto saxophone
• Oliver Lake — alto saxophone
• David Murray — tenor saxophone