Search - Elmo Hope :: Trio & Quintet

A cat from the "bop renaissance"

Jazzcat | Genoa, Italy Italy | 01/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is another Jazz album the average Jazz collector should own. It is particularly "sweet and lovely" to quote the title of one of the few standard tunes comprehended here. For the most part these three sessions are based on Elmo's own compositions which are bop tunes. We're talking about recording sessions that happened between 1953, 1954 and 1957. Elmo's was a sort of Bud Powell kind of pianist you know. Technical, very bop, his compositions have a sort of Tadd Dameron influence too . I have nothing more to add here. Among the cats who contributed in these sessions you may find Blakey, Harold Land, Philly Jo Jones, Percy Heath etc. La creme de la creme. This record is something that a serious collector has to own because the composers in the bop era were few and Hope is surely among the ones we have to know. He was a very good pianist too. I think to the bop era like a sort of "renaissance" where every cat was good, there were the absolute giants like Bird and Diz or Bud and Monk and then you had a big number of really remarkable artists that flourished all around. Elmo was on of these cats that grew up in that special era. A very nice cd you can add to your collection Jazz mates, it's almost essential even if the recording quality it's not consistent. Later sessions have a more full and gratifying sound. Bop!



Few listening sessions later ..... no wait, it is essential. Really. It's splendid and essential. Buy it ... =))))



Uh, and one thing more. There's something that I really can't understand about the Blue Note "Copy Controlled" politic. This one has been just released, together with some other titles from Booker Ervin and many others cats. All the others (Van Gelder or Connossoir) have the copy controlled technology inside, this one NOT. Why? What are they doing with this copy controlled thing?? Are they going crazy with this stuff? I can't understand. Simply quit that s**t and let's go back to the old system that never caused a problem. These cds are not for the common audience. They are for the Jazz collector that want to own the REAL thing, don't want to have copies. So, this system is completly wrong from a marketing point of view and is not respectful of the Jazz collector. C'mon Blue Note how many people out there are desperatly searching for Elmo Hope's copies? Be serious. QUIT THIS COPY CONTROLLED AWFUL SYSTEM."