A pretty great little set that combines both of the rare early Elmo Hope 10" LPs for Blue Note – plus some additional material! Introducing The Elmo Hope Trio is seminal early work from Hope – and one of the 10" LP releases that was part of Blue Note's "New Faces – New Sounds" series during the early 50s. Hope's working here with Percy Heath and Philly Joe Jones – and the trio go to town on numbers that include complicated bop tunes like "Carving The Rock" and "Hot Sauce", plus more melodic tunes like "Freffie" and "Mo Is On". As always, Hope proves himself to be one of the greatest pianists in jazz history – right up there with Monk, Herbie Nichols, and Bud Powell, bristling with excitement that few of his contemporaries (save those three) could match! The Elmo Hope Quintet session has Hope grooving in a very modernist approach to bop, working perfectly with a tight little quintet. Frank Foster wails on tenor, Freeman Lee soars on trumpet, and Percy Heath and Art Blakey keep the whole thing going on rhythm – while Hope plays madly on piano, adding in rich tones and colors to a set that might have otherwise been a straighter bop outing. Titles include "Chips", "Crazy", "Abdullah", and "Low Tide". The CD also adds in 2 tracks from the 40 Years Of Jazz collection in 1979 – "It's A Lovely Day Today" and "Crazy (alternate)" – plus 3 from the Art Blakey/Elmo Hope album – "So Nice", "St Elmo's Fire", and "Vaun Ex". CD

A great collection that brings together 2 of the last albums ever issued by piano genius Elmo Hope – both of which are overflowing with original tunes in Hope's best modernist mode! The style here is a bit more far-reaching than some of his other work from earlier years – not necessarily in a way that's outside, but which is more all-encompassing of piano tradition – a bit in territory explored by Jaki Byard at the time, but with more of that Elmo's fire and bop inspiration. Most of the rhythm support is from Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums – and titles include "Dee Dah", "Abdula", "Freffie", "Stars Over Marakesh", "Hot Sauce", "Mo Is On", "Crazy", "Maybe So", "Mo's Bluff", and "Chips". CD

One of Elmo Hope's best trio sessions from the west coast – and a record that really showcases on his skills as a writer as much as a player! The session features 7 original compositions, plus one standard – all done in a complex, modern mode by Hope with a trio that includes the excellent bass player Jimmy Bond, and drummer Frank Butler. Oddly, the session was also one of David Axelrod's first production efforts – not that you can really hear his trademark sound at this point – but it's a nice chapter in his rich legacy! Hope's stellar, as always – and the album's filled with great tracks that include "Barfly", "Boa", "Minor Bertha", "Tranquility", and "Something For Kenny". CD

An insanely overstuffed collection of work by pianist Elmo Hope in a trio format – one that features tunes from 9 different albums, issued on a variety of different labels, all brought together in a single set! Hope in a trio format really takes off from the usual – displaying talents on the keys that rival contemporary modernists like Thelonious Monk, Randy Weston, or Herbie Nichols – presented with a sound that has plenty of sharp edges and odd turns, but also some bluesier undercurrents as well. The material was recorded both in LA and New York – documenting both sides of Hope's continental sojourn in jazz – and bassists here include Percy Heath, John Ore, Curtis Counce, Jimmy Bond, Paul Chambers, and Ronnie Boykins; alongside drummers who include Willie Jones, Philly Joe Jones, Frank Butler, and Clifford Jarvis. 4CD set features 62 tracks in all – with material from the albums New Faces New Sounds, Meditations, Elmo Hope Trio, Homecoming, Sounds From Rikers Island, Here's Hope, High Hope, and The Final Sessions. CD

The last work ever recorded by pianist Elmo Hope – one of the most brilliant modernist talents of his generation, right up there with Monk and Herbie Nichols for sheer inventiveness. We've always loved the long sinuous lines he spun on piano, though Hope spent most of his career in obscurity, despite extremely strong critical response to his work – and he died at the age of 45 from pneumonia. The material here was recorded in 1966 for the Festival label – and feature Hope working with a trio that includes John Orr on bass and Clifford Jarvis on drums, with some occasional guest work on drums by Philly Joe Jones. Titles include two takes of ""Elmo's Blues", "A Kiss For My Love", "Stellations", "Night In Tunisia", and "I Love You". LP, Vinyl record album

A great little album that Hope made upon his return to the east coast in the early 60s – not too long before he passed away. Half the tunes are cut with a sextet that features Blue Mitchell, Frank Foster, and Jimmy Heath – and the other are cut with a trio that features Hope, Percy Heath, and Philly Joe Jones, who provide the rhythm for the sextet tunes. The mix of settings is about half and half – and titles include "Moe Jr", "La Berthe", "Eyes So Beautiful", and "One Mo Blues". It's great to hear Hope back with horns, after cutting so many trio sides during this point in his life – and his unique style on the keys is still matched nicely with the larger group of players. CD

Bertha Hope on piano, Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Dave Riekenberg and Junior Cook on tenor saxophone, Walter Booker on bass, and Leroy Williams on drums. CD

Clifford Brown only recorded a handful of sides for Blue Note – but all of the best ones are included in this excellent album – a full length set that culls together Brown's material from the 10" years, issued as a memorial to his early death in 1956! Side one features Brown with the modernist Gigi Gryce on flute and alto sax – plus Charlie Rouse on tenor, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Art Blakey on drums – a lineup that has a strong sense of soul, balanced with a dose of modernism – on titles that include the classic "Hymn to the Orient" – worth the price of the album alone – plus "Easy Living", "Cherokee", "Wail Bait", and "Minor Mood". Side two features an equally sharp group – with Lou Donaldson on some excellent alto, and the great Elmo Hope on piano – on titles that include "Brownie Speaks", "De Dah", "Cookin", "You Go To My Head", and "Carving The Rock". LP, Vinyl record album

Clifford Brown only recorded a handful of sides for Blue Note – but all of the best ones are included in this excellent album – a full length set that culls together Brown's material from the 10" years, issued as a memorial to his early death in 1956! Side one features Brown with the modernist Gigi Gryce on flute and alto sax – plus Charlie Rouse on tenor, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Art Blakey on drums – a lineup that has a strong sense of soul, balanced with a dose of modernism – on titles that include the classic "Hymn to the Orient" – worth the price of the album alone – plus "Easy Living", "Cherokee", "Wail Bait", and "Minor Mood". Side two features an equally sharp group – with Lou Donaldson on some excellent alto, and the great Elmo Hope on piano – on titles that include "Brownie Speaks", "De Dah", "Cookin", "You Go To My Head", and "Carving The Rock". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the few albums ever recorded by pianist Herbie Nichols – an incredible player with a sound and sense of modern expression that rivaled the best 50s work of Thelonious Monk and Elmo Hope! This session is Herbie's only one for the Bethlehem label – but it stands nicely next to his better-known sides for Blue Note – with a stark, sharp modernist approach that grabs you from the very first note! Nichols has a sharp and edgey sound throughout – and an incredible sense of invention that never fails to delight us, no matter how many times we return to the record! Titles include "Every Cloud", "S'Crazy Pad", "45 Degree Angle", "Beyond Recall", "Portrait of Ucha", and the beautiful title track "Love Gloom Cash Love". CD

One of the few albums ever recorded by pianist Herbie Nichols – an incredible player with a sound and sense of modern expression that rivaled the best 50s work of Thelonious Monk and Elmo Hope! This session is Herbie's only one for the Bethlehem label – but it stands nicely next to his better-known sides for Blue Note – with a stark, sharp modernist approach that grabs you from the very first note! Nichols has a sharp and edgey sound throughout – and an incredible sense of invention that never fails to delight us, no matter how many times we return to the record! Titles include "Every Cloud", "S'Crazy Pad", "45 Degree Angle", "Beyond Recall", "Portrait of Ucha", and the beautiful title track "Love Gloom Cash Love". CD

Key recordings from Sonny's breakout year of 1954 – tracks from 2 different sessions, brought together into one album that packs a hell of a punch! The modernist Rollins tenor is at its early peak here – fresh, bold, and highly creative – yet equally concerned with the role of the ensemble as well. And with players like Kenny Dorham, Elmo Hope, Thelonious Monk, and Art Blakey helping things out, the sessions are both cookers all the way through! Titles include 4 by a group with Dorham, Hope, and Blakey – "Solid", "Moving Out", "Swingin For Bumsy", and "Silk N Satin" – plus 1 more by a quartet with Monk, Tommy Potter, and Art Taylor – the longer "More Than You Know". LP, Vinyl record album

Early Rollins work for Prestige – recorded between 1951 and 1954, in a variety of settings! Like a lot of the other Milestone 2LP sets issued in the 70s, this album collects tracks from a number of sessions, restoring recordings to the order they were recorded in rather than how they were originally issued, which in this case was mostly as 10" LPs, under a variety of titles including Mambo Jazz, Sonny Rollins, Sonny Rollins With The Modern Jazz Quartet and others. As such the set features five lineups, all smaller groups, mostly quartets and sidemen include Miles Davis, Roy Haynes, Elmo Hope, Kenny Dorham, Thelonius Monk, Kenny Drew, Percy Heath, and Art Blakey. Since most of this was originally issued on 10"s, the tunes are shorter than you might be used to hearing Rollins' LPs, but there's still plenty of power and imagination in the grooves – very economical solos, crafted with a great deal of imagination. 20 tracks in all, with including "Scoops", "Shadrack", "Mambo Bounce", "The Stopper", "I Know", "Movin' Out", "Solid", "Newk's Fadeaway", "Silk'N'Satin", and "No Moe". LP, Vinyl record album

A key moment in the west coast hardbop scene – and one of the greatest early records from saxophonist Harold Land! The group's a really striking one – with the unique Dupree Bolton on trumpet, a great player that we really only know from this set – plus Herbie Lewis on bass, Frank Butler on drums, and the great Elmo Hope on piano! Hope's piano really gives the set an edgey finish that seems to bring out even more dark tones in Land's horn than usual – and another aspect of the session that's worth noting is its early production by David Axelrod – who really seems to have an ear for making all the elements gel together perfectly. There's a really free-thinking sound here that makes the album stand out from other LA work of the time – and titles include "The Fox", "Sims-A-Plenty", "One Down", and "One Second, Please". CD

A key moment in the west coast hardbop scene – and one of the greatest early records from saxophonist Harold Land! The group's a really striking one – with the unique Dupree Bolton on trumpet, a great player that we really only know from this set – plus Herbie Lewis on bass, Frank Butler on drums, and the great Elmo Hope on piano! Hope's piano really gives the set an edgey finish that seems to bring out even more dark tones in Land's horn than usual – and another aspect of the session that's worth noting is its early production by David Axelrod – who really seems to have an ear for making all the elements gel together perfectly. There's a really free-thinking sound here that makes the album stand out from other LA work of the time – and titles include "The Fox", "Sims-A-Plenty", "One Down", and "One Second, Please". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare late 50s live date from saxophonist Harold Land – released here for the first time ever! But the set's not as noteworthy for the rarity of the date as it is for the strength of the group – an amazing quartet of modernists that includes Elmo Hope on piano, Scott LaFaro on bass, and Lennie McBrowne on drums – all working with Land's tenor on a batch of incredibly long tracks that have a looser, freer feel than anything Harold did in the studio during the 50s! The performance took place at the Cellar Club in Vancouver in November of 1958 – and there's an open-ended, well-blown quality that reminds us of Land's work with Max Roach a few years before – somewhat boppish, and always soulful. Titles include "Just Friends", "The Scene Is Clean", "Big Foot", "Come Rain Or Come Shine", and "Cherokee". CD

Clifford Brown only recorded a handful of sides for Blue Note – but all of the best ones are included in this excellent album – a full length set that culls together Brown's material from the 10" years, issued as a memorial to his early death in 1956! Side one features Brown with the modernist Gigi Gryce on flute and alto sax – plus Charlie Rouse on tenor, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Art Blakey on drums – a lineup that has a strong sense of soul, balanced with a dose of modernism – on titles that include the classic "Hymn to the Orient" – worth the price of the album alone – plus "Easy Living", "Cherokee", "Wail Bait", and "Minor Mood". Side two features an equally sharp group – with Lou Donaldson on some excellent alto, and the great Elmo Hope on piano – on titles that include "Brownie Speaks", "De Dah", "Cookin", "You Go To My Head", and "Carving The Rock". CD features great mastering and 18 tracks in all! CD

The team of Coltrane and Mobley seems like a strange pairing from the perspective of the history books – but at the time, the pair were two of the brightest new stars on the tenor, each with a sound and style that would make them huge, so it was no surprise that they were brought together for a blowing session like this on Prestige. The set's got a nice open ended feel – with 4 long tracks that give the players plenty of solo room, and a group that includes Donald Byrd on trumpet, Elmo Hope on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Titles include "On It", "Weeja", "Avalon", and "Polka Dots & Moonbeams". LP, Vinyl record album

Stunning solo piano work from legendary Philly musician Hasaan – best known for his one Atlantic session with Max Roach, but sounding completely different here on his own! From the very first note of the set, you know that you're in the company of a committed modernist, of the same generation as Herbie Nichols and Elmo Hope – a player with an equally unique, individual conception, and an ability to work a very familiar instrument in all these really unusual ways – often with a quality that makes you feel as if Hasaan is about to step outside and improvise more freely, but always swinging back with an inherent sense of rhythm that's wonderful. The set features both original tunes and reworked standards, pulled from a variety of different tapes recorded in both Philly and New York in the mid 60s – superbly brought back to life here, with a double-length set of selections that include "Off My Back Jack", "Off Minor", "Atlantic Ones", "Mean To Me", "True Train", "Untitled Ballad", "Extemporaneous Prose Poem", "Besame Mucho", "On Green Dolphin Street", and "Arabic Song". CD

Clifford Brown only recorded a handful of sides for Blue Note – but all of the best ones are included in this excellent album – a full length set that culls together Brown's material from the 10" years, issued as a memorial to his early death in 1956! Side one features Brown with the modernist Gigi Gryce on flute and alto sax – plus Charlie Rouse on tenor, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Art Blakey on drums – a lineup that has a strong sense of soul, balanced with a dose of modernism – on titles that include the classic "Hymn to the Orient" – worth the price of the album alone – plus "Easy Living", "Cherokee", "Wail Bait", and "Minor Mood". Side two features an equally sharp group – with Lou Donaldson on some excellent alto, and the great Elmo Hope on piano – on titles that include "Brownie Speaks", "De Dah", "Cookin", "You Go To My Head", and "Carving The Rock". CD

Clifford Brown only recorded a handful of sides for Blue Note – but all of the best ones are included in this excellent album – a full length set that culls together Brown's material from the 10" years, issued as a memorial to his early death in 1956! Side one features Brown with the modernist Gigi Gryce on flute and alto sax – plus Charlie Rouse on tenor, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Art Blakey on drums – a lineup that has a strong sense of soul, balanced with a dose of modernism – on titles that include the classic "Hymn to the Orient" – worth the price of the album alone – plus "Easy Living", "Cherokee", "Wail Bait", and "Minor Mood". Side two features an equally sharp group – with Lou Donaldson on some excellent alto, and the great Elmo Hope on piano – on titles that include "Brownie Speaks", "De Dah", "Cookin", "You Go To My Head", and "Carving The Rock". CD

A great little album that's every bit as wonderful as you might expect from its cover – one of the key late 50s sides as a leader from bassist Curtis Counce – cut with a killer lineup that includes Harold Land on tenor sax, Rolf Ericson on trumpet, and Elmo Hope on piano! The set's got the mix of modernism and soul bop leanings you might expect from the players – a really fresh approach that comes off especially well in the non-iconic production style of the Dootone label – a mode that really let the players do their own thing, and break out from some of the tighter restrictions of other LA labels on the scene. Frank Butler completes the quintet on drums – and titles include "The Countdown", "Into The Orbit", "Race For Space", "Move", "Angel Eyes", and "So Nice". CD also features 3 bonus tracks – the previously unreleased "Foreplay", plus unedited takes of "Move" and "The Countdown". CD

A great little album that's every bit as wonderful as you might expect from its cover – one of the key late 50s sides as a leader from bassist Curtis Counce – cut with a killer lineup that includes Harold Land on tenor sax, Rolf Ericson on trumpet, and Elmo Hope on piano! The set's got the mix of modernism and soul bop leanings you might expect from the players – a really fresh approach that comes off especially well in the non-iconic production style of the Dootone label – a mode that really let the players do their own thing, and break out from some of the tighter restrictions of other LA labels on the scene. Frank Butler completes the quintet on drums – and titles include "The Countdown", "Into The Orbit", "Race For Space", "Move", "Angel Eyes", and "So Nice". LP, Vinyl record album

Very hip early stuff from Lou – playing here in a bop-heavy mode with Clifford Brown, Elmo Hope, Percy Heath, and Philly Joe Jones! The set will open up a whole new side of Donaldson's playing if you only know his funky Blue Note sides of the late 60s – and in the company of players like this, he keeps his bop chops up nice and sharp! Tracks include "Carving The Rock", "De Dah", "Brownie Speaks", and "Bellarosa". LP, Vinyl record album

A lost jazz treasure from one of the most enigmatic pianists of the 60s – the legendary Hasaan, who recorded famously with Max Roach on Atlantic Records, but who also left behind this rare session that's never seen the light of day until now! Hasaan hails from Philly, where he was a player who'd made huge waves in that city, with a technique that rivaled the modernism of Elmo Hope or Herbie Nichols – but a musician who rarely ever got exposure outside of the city, which is what makes this album so essential! Even more essential is the fact that the set features work from a very young Odean Pope on tenor – really sounding tremendous here next to Hasaan – maybe the Charlie Rouse to his Thelonious Monk, although both musicians work in territory that's even more mindblowing! All titles here are originals by Ali, filled with all these amazing changes and angles – driven forth even more strongly by the work of Art Davis on bass and Kali Madi on drums – on tunes that include "True Train", "Richard May Love Give Powell", "Atlantic Ones", "Viceroy", "El Hasaan", "Epitome", and "Metaphysics". Album also features three shorter alternates of titles on the record. CD

Hard-burning early work from tenorist Harold Land – exactly the kind of date that set him apart from other west coast players of the 50s! Although he was part of the LA scene of the time, Harold Land grooved a lot harder and louder than his cool jazz contemporaries – and this album's a perfect chance to hear the underground bop scene of which he was a cornerstone. The tunes are amazing – and even the familiar numbers have a real edge, thanks to sharp arrangements by Harold and Elmo Hope. Equally great is the group – which features an unusual US appearance from Swedish trumpeter Rolf Ericson, who's a surprisingly soulful fit for the sound of the session – plus Carl Perkins, the legendary sideways pianist, Leroy Vinnegar on bass, and Frank Butler on drums. Titles include "Delerium", "Smack Up", "Grooveyard", "Lydia's Lament", and "Nieta". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the few albums ever recorded by pianist Herbie Nichols – an incredible player with a sound and sense of modern expression that rivaled the best 50s work of Thelonious Monk and Elmo Hope! This session is Herbie's only one for the Bethlehem label – but it stands nicely next to his better-known sides for Blue Note – with a stark, sharp modernist approach that grabs you from the very first note! Nichols has a sharp and edgey sound throughout – and an incredible sense of invention that never fails to delight us, no matter how many times we return to the record! Titles include "Every Cloud", "S'Crazy Pad", "45 Degree Angle", "Beyond Recall", "Portrait of Ucha", and the beautiful title track "Love Gloom Cash Love". CD