Pianist and composer
Elmo Hope's music might best be compared with that of
Herbie Nichols. Both men shared some of
Bud Powell's intensity,
Thelonious Monk's inventive whimsy and, at times, hints of young
Cecil Taylor's realistic approach to the impossible. Over the years, both
Nichols and
Hope have achieved posthumous respect from an international jazz community which is itself marginalized. While
Herbie Nichols could be said to have been ignored to death,
Elmo Hope's life and work were grievously complicated and ultimately extinguished (in 1967 at the age of 44) by the same narcotic plague that afflicted so many of his contemporaries. Because
Hope's music has never been adequately recognized or appreciated, the 2007 release of Gambit's anthologized
Complete Studio Recordings of the
Elmo Hope Trio (1953-1966) is a glorious and unprecedented achievement. Born in 1923,
St. Elmo Sylvester Hope was the son of West Indian immigrants who settled in New York. He grew up with
Bud Powell, studying
J.S. Bach and dreaming of new concepts in modern music.
Hope's first recordings were with trumpeter
Joe Morris, whose little R&B band boasted such innovative young minds as
Johnny Griffin,
Percy Heath and
Philly Joe Jones. When in 1953
Alfred Lion gave
Hope his first opportunity to record as a leader, he chose
Heath and
Jones to catalyze the eight tracks issued on New Faces, New Sounds. Other albums reissued here entirely or in part are
Meditations,
Elmo Hope Trio,
Homecoming!,
Sounds from Rikers Island (later reissued as
Hope from Rikers Island);
Here's Hope,
High Hope and
The Final Sessions. As his career progressed,
Hope was able to record with a series of excellent bassists:
John Ore, famous for his work with
Monk;
Jimmy Bond, a sideman for
Chet Baker and
Ella Fitzgerald; the mighty
Curtis Counce;
Sun Ra's
Ronnie Boykins, Blue Note sessionman
Butch Warren and
Coltrane's close collaborator
Paul Chambers. While various skillful drummers pop up throughout this compilation (
Willie Jones,
Frank Butler,
Clifford Jarvis and
Granville T. Hogan),
Philly Joe Jones was
Elmo Hope's preferred percussionist from his first trio recording date through to the very last. Even as some of his music rippled with the restless energy of
Herbie Nichols,
Hope also made a point of composing and performing ritualistic reveries of profound and breathtaking slowness, sometimes drifting into a trance-like space where the listener may follow in order to contemplate the mysteries of life and death, of creativity and collective improvisation. Like
Herbie Nichols,
Elmo Hope imprinted everything he wrote and played with an indelibly personalized, harmonically advanced language. This is an unprecedented opportunity to learn that language intimately, as never before has anyone bothered to compile this much
Hope in one comprehensive edition.