Gavin Walker
Apr 30, 2008, 08:53 PM
St. Elmo Sylvester Hope was born in New York City on June 27, 1923, the only child of West Indian immigrants. He was raised in strict fashion by parents that encouraged education, music, arts and social responsibility. Young Elmo took to the piano and excelled at playing the 'classics'.....Bach, Beethoven and Mozart with his boyhood pal, Bud Powell......they played duets and matched their developing skills and listened to and absorbed some of the music they heard in the neighbourhood. Bud and Elmo discovered Art Tatum, Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson via radio broadcasts and both were smart enough to realize that any possibility of a career in classical music for black players was virtually non-existent in the mid and late thirties. They hung out with another piano playing buddy named Thelonious Monk who made both Bud and Elmo understand that their futures were to be in Jazz. Monk was a little older than Bud and Elmo and had been playing jobs for a while and had made some contacts and knew how to score gigs and before long both Bud Powell and Elmo Hope were playing professionally. Bud Powell, was a genius and led a tragic personal life and went on to be justifiably called a Jazz pioneer. In reality, Bud was to the piano what Charlie Parker was to the alto saxophone. Monk enjoyed the longest career of the three and although it took a long time, he was finally recognized as a genius as well and given his due as one of the architects of Modern Jazz. Elmo Hope was relegated to undeserved obscurity and to this day remains an elusive figure in the development of Modern Jazz piano. Elmo's career was blighted by heavy drug use(heroin) and he died quite young at 43 on May 19,1967 of a heart attack after a bout of pneumonia.
Elmo Hope's piano style has elements of Bud and Monk in it but the attack, ideas and phrasing are all his own. Elmo was much like Monk in that he was also a composer of richly complex and fascinating tunes that took unexpected twists and turns. His original ballads were often bittersweet and poignant in their lyricism. It has been said that one of the reasons that Hope didn't get the recognition and acclaim was that when Bud (who was at his astounding peak in the late 1940's and early 1950's) and Monk were recording and playing gigs, Elmo was on the road playing in r & b bands and away from the hot New York Jazz scene. This seems true because when Hope came off the road in 1953, he recorded not only under his own name but also as a sideman with Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown, Jackie McLean and others. Everything seemed rosy for Elmo despite his drug addiction. In 1957 he left New York for Los Angeles hoping to get away from the drug scene (he didn't) but also to enjoy what was then clean, fresh air in L.A. as Elmo suffered from asthma and was prone to other respiratory ailments. Elmo hooked up with some great players in L.A. like tenor saxophonist Harold Land and others. It was during this period that Harold brought Elmo with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Lennie McBrowne to Vancouver to the original Cellar for their legendary stay. It was there that this writer got a chance to meet Mr. Hope. Elmo, during that gig, blew all his money on drugs and had to play an extra five days at the Cellar with locals, drummer Bill Boyle and bassist Tony Clitheroe to pay his way back to L.A. That's another story, however.
During his rather unhappy stay in L.A. Elmo was quite productive and recorded tonight's Jazz Feature album which is considered his masterpiece. He taped it for the independent label "Hifijazz" on February 8,1959 with Jimmy Bond on bass and the incredible Frank Butler on drums. It has been re-issued on Contemporary and the CD is available on OJCCD-477 distributed by Concord Inc. The liner notes are worth reading and Harold Land is quoted talking about their exciting Cellar gig in Vancouver. Of all the albums in Mr. Hope's rather sparse output, this one has always over the years garnered the most critical acclaim and even from the beginning, when it was first issued and reviewed it got 5 Stars. The tunes are all by Hope save for a slow contemplative interpretation of the standard, "Like Someone in Love", by Burke/Van Heusen. The Hope originals cover all the emotions from sadness to a bouncing joyousness in the up tempos. After this album was done, Elmo, his wife Bertha(a fine pianist) and their children moved back to his beloved New York. He worked and recorded sporadically until his passing. All of his albums are worth looking for as there is a touch of genius on all of them. Tonight's Jazz Feature captures that genius more than any other recording by Mr. Hope....'The Elmo Hope Trio' tonight at 11pm.
I will be playing some more music by the late and recently departed Jimmy Giuffre. There will also be some music by Mingus that I didn't get around to playing last week and a some tracks from a brand new (not yet released) recording by pianist/composer Sharon Minemoto called "You Can See The Ocean From Here" with bassist Paul Rushka and drummer Paul Townsend plus Brad Turner on flugelhorn on the title track. Sharon will be 'Artist of the Month' at the Cellar every Wednesday in May and the CD will be officially released on the last Wednesday of the month.
See you at 9pm for the full show and bring both ears.
Elmo Hope's piano style has elements of Bud and Monk in it but the attack, ideas and phrasing are all his own. Elmo was much like Monk in that he was also a composer of richly complex and fascinating tunes that took unexpected twists and turns. His original ballads were often bittersweet and poignant in their lyricism. It has been said that one of the reasons that Hope didn't get the recognition and acclaim was that when Bud (who was at his astounding peak in the late 1940's and early 1950's) and Monk were recording and playing gigs, Elmo was on the road playing in r & b bands and away from the hot New York Jazz scene. This seems true because when Hope came off the road in 1953, he recorded not only under his own name but also as a sideman with Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown, Jackie McLean and others. Everything seemed rosy for Elmo despite his drug addiction. In 1957 he left New York for Los Angeles hoping to get away from the drug scene (he didn't) but also to enjoy what was then clean, fresh air in L.A. as Elmo suffered from asthma and was prone to other respiratory ailments. Elmo hooked up with some great players in L.A. like tenor saxophonist Harold Land and others. It was during this period that Harold brought Elmo with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Lennie McBrowne to Vancouver to the original Cellar for their legendary stay. It was there that this writer got a chance to meet Mr. Hope. Elmo, during that gig, blew all his money on drugs and had to play an extra five days at the Cellar with locals, drummer Bill Boyle and bassist Tony Clitheroe to pay his way back to L.A. That's another story, however.
During his rather unhappy stay in L.A. Elmo was quite productive and recorded tonight's Jazz Feature album which is considered his masterpiece. He taped it for the independent label "Hifijazz" on February 8,1959 with Jimmy Bond on bass and the incredible Frank Butler on drums. It has been re-issued on Contemporary and the CD is available on OJCCD-477 distributed by Concord Inc. The liner notes are worth reading and Harold Land is quoted talking about their exciting Cellar gig in Vancouver. Of all the albums in Mr. Hope's rather sparse output, this one has always over the years garnered the most critical acclaim and even from the beginning, when it was first issued and reviewed it got 5 Stars. The tunes are all by Hope save for a slow contemplative interpretation of the standard, "Like Someone in Love", by Burke/Van Heusen. The Hope originals cover all the emotions from sadness to a bouncing joyousness in the up tempos. After this album was done, Elmo, his wife Bertha(a fine pianist) and their children moved back to his beloved New York. He worked and recorded sporadically until his passing. All of his albums are worth looking for as there is a touch of genius on all of them. Tonight's Jazz Feature captures that genius more than any other recording by Mr. Hope....'The Elmo Hope Trio' tonight at 11pm.
I will be playing some more music by the late and recently departed Jimmy Giuffre. There will also be some music by Mingus that I didn't get around to playing last week and a some tracks from a brand new (not yet released) recording by pianist/composer Sharon Minemoto called "You Can See The Ocean From Here" with bassist Paul Rushka and drummer Paul Townsend plus Brad Turner on flugelhorn on the title track. Sharon will be 'Artist of the Month' at the Cellar every Wednesday in May and the CD will be officially released on the last Wednesday of the month.
See you at 9pm for the full show and bring both ears.