BLP 5029

Elmo Hope - New Faces - New Sounds

Released - 1953

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, June 18, 1953
Elmo Hope, piano; Percy Heath, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums.

BN495-1 tk.2 Happy Hour
BN496-2 tk.5 Freffie
BN497-2 tk.8 Carvin' The Rock
BN498-0 tk.9 Host Sauce
BN499-0 tk.10 Mo Is On
BN500-1 tk.13 Stars Over Marrakesh
BN501-1 tk.19 I Remember You
BN502-2 tk.23 Sweet And Lovely

Session Photos

Photos: Francis Wolff

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Mo Is On	Elmo Hope	June 18 1953
Sweet And Lovely	Arnheim-Tobias	June 18 1953
Happy Hour	Elmo Hope	June 18 1953
Hot Sauce	Elmo Hope	June 18 1953
Side Two
Stars Over Marrakech	Elmo Hope	June 18 1953
Freffie	Elmo Hope	June 18 1953
Carving The Rock	Hope-Rollins	June 18 1953
I Remember You	Mercer-Schertzinger	June 18 1953

Liner Notes

By LEONARD FEATHER
(Associate Editor, Down Beat)

SIGNIFICANTLY, the career of Elmo Hope has run parallel in several aspects with that of Bud Powell. While Bud has already earned acceptance as peerless in the modern jazz piano field, Elmo may carve an important niche of his own with this, his solo record debut.

Like Bud, Elmo was born 29 years ago in New York City of a family that claims several musical members. Elmo, whose parents came from the West Indies, grew up with Bud; as youngsters they spent many hours listening to classical music, and especially Bach, to whose Inventions On A Theme Elmo points as proof that "Bach was way out there."

Again like Powell, who toured with Cootie Williams band, Elmo spent two or three years working for a trumpet-led rhythm-and-blues band, that of Joe Morris, before branching out into modern jazz, where he was at last able to express his true personality. It was while with Morris that he met Percy Heath and "Philly" Joe Jones, his trio-mates on the present set of performances.

At after-hours sessions, on gigs and in regular jobs, Elmo began to develop ideas as both pianist and composer. With Sonny Rollins (co-writer of Carving The Rock), with Lester Young and trumpeter Clifford Brown and Joe Jones, he began to formulate the expressive personality that finds its first extensive outlet here.

Elmo, again in common with Bud Powell, has been prevented by illness and personal problems from pursuing his career with the consistency that might have brought recognition much sooner.

Now that he can be heard in a truly representative set of performances, he is fortunate in having with him two rhythm men who are a respected and highly active part of the Manhattan jazz scene. Percy Heath has been applauded by musicians for his many fine performances with Dizzy Gillespie and other citizens of the Birdland community. "Philly" Joe, too, has followed in the path blazed by his famous namesake (the ex-Basie Jo Jones), has worked with Tony Scott at Minton's and other fine combos.

What style of piano does Elmo Hope play? It would be easy to answer "The same as Bud Powell," but this would not do justice to a musician who, while coming along the same route as Bud for so many years, is now ploughing a separate path for himself, though in a similar general neighborhood. His original material, though it has the intense, rapt quality of Bud's, remains personal. whether it be the relatively serene approach of Happy Hour or the minor Moroccan mood of Stars Over Marakech.

Swing is an essential element of Elmo's style. His melodic line, both in the composed opening choruses and in the ad-lib passages that follow, most often follows the modern single-note pattern, and he retains the all-important beat both in the right hand and in his bass punctuations. When working with a popular song, as he does here in Sweet and Lovely and I Remember You, he employs chords and rhythmic patterns that transform the old, familiar themes into interpretations that carry the stamp of his character without destroying the basic melody.

When you hear Elmo Hope, your first reaction will quite possibly be "Well, where has he been all these years?" And the fact is that while Elmo was giving recitals at the age of 14 and even won medals during his teen-aged concertizing, he has never, until now, achieved much more than local recognition. If you will pardon the pun, this might be the time to say that there is new hope for Elmo.

Cover Design by JOHN HERNIANSADER
Photos by FRANCIS WOLFF

2005 CD Reissue Liner Notes

On June 11, 1953 I was in the WOR Studios at 1440 Broadway, operating in an A&R capacity for Prestige Records. The bandleader was Todd Dameron and his new, star sideman was trumpeter Clifford Brown. People had been telling me about Clifford, but his was the first actual hearing and I was completely knocked out.

Upon listening to my raves, Philly Joe Jones, the drummer on the date, proceeded to inform me of a session he had done with Brownie and Lou Donaldson for Blue Note two days earlier. "Elmo Hope on piano," he related. "Elmo Hope, Bud Powell — same thing."

Now, Philly Joe wasn't claiming that Elmo was as great as Bud, or that they played exactly alike. Rather, it was his way of saying to me, unaware as I was of Hope, that stylistically they were in the same area and that Elo was also a high-caliber exponent of the hippest musical language of the day.

Many people were not yet aware of Elmo because the only records he had made, prior to June 9, 1953, were as a sideman with former Lionel Hampton trumpeter Joe Morris's band alongside tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, trombonist Matthew Gee, bassist Percy Heath, and Philly Joe Jones.

Morris led an R&B-oriented outfit and therefore the only ones who knew of Hope's talents were his fellow musicians. One of them, a New York pianist named Bob Bunyan, who had hung out with both Elmo and Bud Powell in the '40s, said: "Everyone learned from each other by just playing. Bud had the powerful attack, and Elmo got into some intricate harmonies.

St. Elmo Sylvester Hope was born in New York on June 27, 1923. He began piano studies at age seven and, by 1938, was winning medals for solo recitals. He and his boyhood friend, Powell, spent time together listening to Bach, and playing for each other.

When he came back to New York after Army service in 1943, Hope, who described himself as "self-taught as a pianist and composer," gained experience in taxi dance hall relief bands, where he would change the chords in the stock arrangements after the first chorus; and at small clubs in the Bronx, Greenwich Village, and Coney Island.

After a short stint with Snub Mosely's combo, he joined Joe Morris in 1948, working with him into 1951. That band recorded for Atlantic, and there was also a date in 1949 for Decca where the pianist is listed in Jepsen's discography as Elmore Sylvester. However, the only numbers which would have given an indication of Elmo's jazz abilities remain unreleased to this day.

It took the June 1953 date with Lou Donaldson and Clifford Brown to give Hope visibility. Nine days after that session, Alfred Lion put Elmo into the studio with Heath and Jones for his first date as a leader. By the time the trio album (a 10-incher) was released, some people's enthusiasm for the playing of the diminutive New Yorker had been whetted by his work with Lou and Brownie.

Irving Berlin's "It's a Lovely Day Today" opens with Elmo turning in an airy, springing, insistently swinging performance backed by Heath's steady bassings and Philly Joe's strong pulse.

The alternate take of "Mo Is On" travels its "rhythm" pattern at an urgent pace, as much a sound as it is a riff. Philly Joe has a solo (sticks). The originally released take is even more definitely delivered with a slightly less elaborate ending.

Elmo's version of "Sweet and Lovely," the second of three standards from the date (all the other selections are Hope originals), is presented in a reflectively melodic manner.

"Happy Hour" is of an optimistic bent, a medium-grooved, upbeat outlook that makes room for a short, picked solo by Heath.

The changes shift to minor for the bubbling "Hot Sauce" sparked by Jones's relentless beat. Hope builds rhythmic momentum with his piston-fingered, high-speed action, and Philly's solo, combining elements of Roach and Blakey, is an extra delight.

Philly Joe's cymbal, and then tom-tom, paint the rhythmic setting of "Stars over Marrakech," prefacing, with a cymbal splash, Hope's keening Casbah theme. Jones's top cymbal and bass drum create a caravan of rhythm underneath. The bridge is played straight and stately but is still somewhat mysterious. All of these elements and Elmo's solo help create a transporting atmosphere.

Philly Joe sets the pace for "Freffie," based on some augmented blues changes. Elmo is centered and strong as he romps up and down the keyboard and, after solos by Percy and Philly, returns for another power trip.

"Carvin' the Rock," a darkly brooding, minor-key swinger, was first recorded on the Lou Donaldson—Clifford Brown date. Hope and Sonny Rollins are the co-writers. "The Rock" refers to Riker's Island and its prison, long known for its rehabilitation of drug addicts. Sure. It's another example of Mo power at the piano.

"I Remember You," the third and final standard of the date, is taken at more relaxed tempo than Charlie Parker's version the following year. Elmo exposes the melody two-handed before taking off on his single-line flights.

Almost a year later, May 9, 1954, Hope and Heath returned to Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack studio along with Art Blakey rounding out the rhythm section, and the horns of tenor saxophonist Frank Foster and trumpeter Freeman Lee forming a front line.

There are six Hope originals, the first of which, "Crazy," a twisting, minor-key theme, is heard in two takes. Lee, who came back to his native New York, after having played with the Wilberforce Collegians and other Ohio bands, worked with Eddie Vinson, Sonny Stitt, and Joe Holiday in the 1952—53 period. He then freelanced in New York for a couple of years before joining James Moody for a while in 1956.

Cincinnati-born Foster, who also studied at Wilberforce, had been with Count Basie for almost a year when this session was done. After making his reputation with the band, he left in 1964. Other than a time with Elvin Jones's group in the late-'60s, he led his own combos and orchestra until assuming leadership of the Basie band in 1986.

Foster's tough, tart, yet full-bodied sound is prominent in both takes of "Crazy." He is heard on each in tvo helpings, before and after Hope's solo. Elmo's work on the originally issued take seems more crisply articulated than in the alternate version. Lee, muted, is heard only in the ensemble. Blakey's solo on the original take rumbles along beautifully, hi-hats working feverishly underneath.

"Abdullah" (probably a reference to Art's Moslem name, Abdullah Buhaina), is actuated by the drummer with a typical elbow-on-the-drum-head sound. a minor-key mover with bright Lee, assertive Foster, and Hope imparting a Silvery feeling without aping Horace. "Chips" is a pretty theme which finds Foster Stitt-like with his own cutting-edge tone. Frank's second chorus is wistful while still burning. Lee has a half-chorus with a couple of Dorham-isms and, after Elmo's solo rounds that chorus out, Freeman takes a solo bridge in the final melody statement.

"Later for You" is a singing, spinning line on "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" that recalls, in spirit, the Sonny Stiff—Bud Powell collaboration of 1949. Everyone bears down here and Lee, despite a couple of flaws, has his best outing of the set.

"Low Tide" is a Dameronian theme and, again, Lee leans toward Kenny Dorham. Hope alternates between lyricism and swift double-timing, and Foster again comes through with clarity and hard swing.

"Maybe So" is another intricate theme with a chord structure that is similar in part to Powell's "Bouncin' with Bud." All the principals solo and Foster has the last bridge as a bonus.

After the quintet date, Hope was a sideman for another Lou Donaldson-led Blue Note session in August, and a Sonny Rollins date for Prestige in that same month. In 1955 he began a series of dates for Prestige, beginning with a trio outing in June and continuing with a quartet (featuring Foster) in October. In January 1956, he did Lights Out under Jackie McLean's leadership, and in June was a sideman on Informal Jazz, later reissued by Prestige as Two Tenors, featuring John Coltrane and Hank Mobley. In April he was supposed to be the pianist on a Gene Ammons session later released as The Happy Blues, but after arriving at the Prestige offices on West 50th Street ahead of time, he left and had to be replaced by Duke Jordan before the band motored to New Jersey and Van Gelder's studio. That was a Friday afternoon. The following Tuesday, Elmo showed up, explaining he had gone to "visit a sick aunt" at Roosevelt Hospital about nine blocks away and had lost track of the time. It was obvious that Hope was caught up in the pursuit of the "horse" that many musicians were riding at the time.

In 1957, he worked with the groups of two diverse trumpeters, Dud Bascomb and Chet Baker. With the latter he traveled to California and decided to remain in Los Angeles. While there, he worked with Lionel Hampton at the Moulin Rouge, but his main affiliation was with tenor saxophonist Harold Land, with whom he gigged and recorded The Fox in 1959. He also did his own trio LP in '59. In 1958 he met his wife-to-be Bertha, also a pianist, and married her in 1960.

His own session far Pacific Jazz was done on October 31, 1957. Up to now, these three titles have been issued as a unit only on Pacific Jazz PJ 33, otherwise appearing as single entities in various anthologies.

In the front line with Land, who had established himself as a soloist of the first rank with the Clifford Brown—Max Roach quintet in 1954—55, was Stu Williamson, a native of Brattleboro, Vermont who had been in the trumpet sections of Stan Kenton and Woody Herman, and a member of Shelly Manne's group. Williamson had settled on the West Coast in 1949. The rest of the quintet was completed by two men who had also come from other areas to make their names in Los Angeles jazz circles: bassist Leroy Vinnegar, the "Mighty Walker" from Indianapolis; and drummer Frank Butler (praised by that severest of critics, Jo Jones), from Kansas City and environs.

Again, all the selections are Hope originals, beginning with the lovely melody and changes of "So Nice." Land's approach has a lighter tonality than Foster but he is always swinging, alternating between a lyrical expression and some rapid, double-time runs. Williamson exhibits a warm, round sound and relaxed swing, and Hope is lucid and in full command of his instrument.

"St. Elmo's Fire," a medium-grooved blues, moves from Elmo's lead-in solo to Land, who really stretches out before giving way to Williamson's muted, sweet-toned blues-saying. Then the horns take it out with a basic blues riff.

"Vaun Ex" is a blues with some harmonics akin to Bird's "Confirmation," which was not a blues. Stu, open, does some more soulful blowing, finding the pretty notes and phrases. Harold's lambent bop is affecting and effective. Note the section where Butler accents Land's lines right along with him. After Leroy walks one, Frank shapes a chorus of his own with his personal, feathery touch and inherent swing.

Although he did not work a lot in Los Angeles, it was evident from his playing and writing in this period that Hope was in good health and a productive frame of mind. Nevertheless he felt stifled. In an interview with John Tynan, West Coast editor of Down Beat (published in the January 5, 1961 issue), Elmo said: "The weather is great, and there are a few people I dig. But this is no place to learn anything. If they (young jazz players) want to learn, let them go back to New York — both for inspiration and brotherly love. They'll hear more things happening..."

When Orrin Keepnews of Riverside Records visited L. A. he encouraged Hope, and Elmo decided to return to New York. In June of '61 he recorded Homecoming for Riverside with old friends Foster, Heath, and Philly Joe among the participants. In November, he did a solo album for Riverside, for which he was joined on three numbers by Bertha Hope at a second piano.

There were also two trio dates in 1961 for Joe Davis's Celebrity and Beacon labels in which Elmo reprised nine of the songs he had done for Blue Note in 1953 and '54 under his own leadership, plus two others he had done with Donaldson.

His next recording was not until 1963 and, by its very title and context, Jazz from Riker's Island, indicated that Hope was again involved with his heroin habit. He had not been visible on the New York club scene in any prominent way, and this was also the case during the next few years. It was commonly believed that the 1963 album had been his last as a leader but in May and August of 1966, he did trio sessions for Herb Abramson's Festival Records (Abramson must have known him from the Joe Morris days since he was one of the founders of Atlantic Records) that posthumously found their way into print on the Inner City label in 1977.

In 1967, Elmo was hospitalized with pneumonia for several weeks and while recuperating, succumbed to an apparent heart attack. I had just come back to Down Beat for a second tour of duty as New York editor. The first news story I was asked to cover was this one.

At the funeral home, the recording of Elmo's "Monique" played constantly as a bittersweet reminder of what a musician he was and what might have been. As the coffin was about to be closed, his aged father ran toward it sobbing, "My son! My son!" It was a heart-wrenching moment that remains fresh in my mind more than twenty years later.

Elmo died on May 19th, but hope had been deceased for some time.

— IRA GITLER