Elmo Hope Trio – June 18 1953
Elmo Hope Blue Note Records Biography
Overshadowed throughout his life by his friends Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, Elmo Hope was a talented pianist and composer whose life was cut short by drugs. His first important gig was with Joe Morris’ R&B band (1948-1951). He recorded in New York as a leader (starting in 1953) and with Sonny Rollins, Lou Donaldson, Clifford Brown, and Jackie McLean, but the loss of his cabaret card (due to his drug use) made it very difficult for him to make a living in New York. After touring with Chet Baker in 1957, Hope relocated to Los Angeles. He performed with Lionel Hampton in 1959, recorded with Harold Land and Curtis Counce, and returned to New York in 1961. A short prison sentence did little to help his drug problem and, although he sounds fine on his trio performances of 1966, he died a little over a year later. Elmo Hope’s sessions as a leader were cut for Blue Note, Prestige, Pacific Jazz, Hi Fi Jazz, Riverside, Celebrity, Beacon, and Audio Fidelity; his last albums were initially released on Inner City. Hope was also a fine composer, although none of his songs became standards. Scott Yanow
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Philly Joe Jones
Photo by Francis Wolff |
Leonard Feather: Elmo Hope – New Faces – New Sounds Liner Notes BLP 5030 - 1953
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.
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Elmo Hope, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones
Photo by Francis Wolff |
Ira Gitler: Elmo Hope – New Faces – New Sounds CD Reissue Liner Notes 2005
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.
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Percy Heath
Photo by Francis Wolff |
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.
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Elmo Hope
Photo by Francis Wolff |
Down Beat May 5 1954 Volume 21 Issue 9
Elmo Hope is 29, and this is his first solo LP. Hope grew up with Bud Powell, has both classical and rhythm and blues background, and judging from this collection, may well be a new jazz find. On first hearing, Hope displays a close resemblance to Bud’s style on his six originals. Relistening, however, indicates that Hope has a more consciously controlled somewhat less intense approach than Bud’s though they both work within a quite similar harmonic and rhythmic framework. Hope oddly is most individual in his affecting approach to ballads.
Elsewhere he’s a thorough-going modernist with a fine beat, good sound and better-than-average conception. He is not, however, touched with the quixotic kind of genius Bud has. Hope gets first-rate support from bassist Percy Heath and drummer “Philly” Joe Jones. Hope certainly has the foundation for what could be an important jazz career. (Blue Note LP 5029)
Elmo Hope, piano; Percy Heath, bass; "Philly" Joe Jones, drums.
Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, June 18, 1953
BN495-1 tk.2, Happy Hour, Blue Note BLP 5029
BN496-2 tk.5, Freffie, Blue Note BLP 5029
BN497-2 tk.8, Carvin' The Rock, Blue Note BLP 5029
BN498-0 tk.9, Host Sauce, Blue Note BLP 5029
BN499-0 tk.10, Mo Is On, Blue Note BLP 5029
BN499-1 tk.11, Mo Is On (alt)
BN500-1 tk.13, Stars Over Marrakesh, Blue Note BLP 5029
BN501-1 tk.19, I Remember You, Blue Note BLP 5029
tk.20, It's A Lovely Day Today
BN502-2 tk.23, Sweet And Lovely, Blue Note BLP 5029
