Introducing The Elmo Hope Trio

Of the collections of Elmo Hope's '50s recordings, Trio and Quintet is the one to get. It includes his prime Blue Note sessions and features a stellar cast of hard bop musicians including Art Blakey, Frank Foster, Philly Joe Jones, and Harold Land. The majority of the tunes are Hope originals which, in their angular introspection, bear the influence of both Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. Things begin with ten mostly hard bop swingers from a trio date in 1953. Prominently featured is Hope's Powell like, single line attack. Solos stay brisk and straightforward on uptempo numbers like "Hot Sauce," but turn a bit mercurial on slower pieces like "Happy Hour." Standout tracks include Hope's "Mo Is On" with its "off to the races" opening statement and "Carvin' the Rock," which falls somewhere between Powell's "Parisian Thoroughfare" and "So Sorry Please." Percy Heath and Philly Joe Jones provide sympathetic support throughout. The Quintet tracks start with an East Coast session featuring Foster and Blakey. The opening number is the convoluted, yet hard swinging original "Crazy"; it causes some problems for trumpeter Freeman Lee, but finds Foster in command with a vigorous solo statement.

Elmo Hope Trio is an album by jazz pianist Elmo Hope recorded in 1959 and originally released on the Hifijazz label but rereleased on Contemporary Records.

The highly original works of composer/pianist Elmo Hope included in this collection are certainly a landmark in his career and a source of unalloyed joy to his many admirers. Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, two of the most exciting jazz musicians, are the remaining two-thirds of this extraordinary trio. Within the dazzling framework of Hopes vivid compositions, they form an aggregation with a strikingly individual style.

Harold Land’s hard bop album “The Fox” was originally released in 1960, with Contemporary Records reissuing it in ‘69. Featuring Harold Land (tenor sax), Dupree Bolton (trumpet), Elmo Hope (piano), Herbie Lewis (bass), Frank Butler (drums) it was produced by David Axelrod. This new edition features remastered hi-res audio from the original tapes.

Madrid-born tenor saxophonist and flautist Javier Vercher began his musical studies at an early age, under the direction of his father, himself a talented musician. Javier attended Berklee College in Boston, where he studied with Frank Tiberi, George Garzone, Greg Hopkins, David Johnson and Andy McGuee and learned directly from such figures as Mark Turner, Jerry Bergonzi, Steve Lacy, Mike Stern, Curtis Fuller and Bob Mintzer and on leaving Berklee began playing in drummer Bob Moses' band.