The Elmo Hope Thread

[Ian Thumwood]

I see Jazzleadsheets.com are selling leadsheets for some classic bop composers. Just downloaded Elmo Hope's 'De Dah' which is anI got rhythm contradict. Plenty of his compositions on line including Herbie Nichols and Tina Brooks

The Elmo tracks are interesting and include links to YouTube performances. There is a bias towards Hope,'s boppish material but I think the comparison with Bud Powell is appropriate from thos selection.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

A nice album of Elmo tunes with Bertha Hope and Don Sicker etc etc Fine group.

http://youtu.be/C8SMVaJyJMs?feature=shared

[Ian Thumwood]

Both Din Sicker abd Bertha Hope are represented on this website too De Dah is a really nice tune yo play but some of the tracks like 'Mo is on ' strike me as being as difficult and Parker or Powell.

Quote intrigued by how Hope's music works. From the point of form, quite standard but the substitutions are interesting. Just a different take on be bop. Should be better appreciated in my opinion although I think Nichols is genuinely more radical.

[Jazzrook]

Bertha Hope with Junior Cook, Eddie Henderson, Walter Booker & Leroy Williams playing ‘Elmo’s Fire’ in 1991:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=bKUOc-9Z30Q

JR

[elmo]

I think Elmo's Improvisation on the Riker's Island version of 'De Dah' (renamed Kevin on this album) really plumbs the idiosyncrasies of that tune. That solo could not be mistaken for anyone other than Elmo.

https://youtu.be/ASliV7ZP_8E?feature=shared

elmo

[Ian Thumwood]

I have not heard this record before but was aware of it. This album has some really positive reviews but the trio are are not at all together in the statement of the head to my ears. Philly Joe is all over the place but Elmo is also out of time and it sounds like he is floundering with the theme. This is odd as it is his composition albeit based on I got rhythm. I am really surprised by this track , I am afraid. I like Elmo's solo which is rooted in bebop.Not sure what the rest of it is like.

I agree that Elmo Hope is distinctive and I am a fan. Much prefer the 1950s trios which are more rehearsed. Was the album made by musicians who had been recorded in prison?

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"This 1963 session assembled by composer Sid Frey, pianist and composer Elmo Hope, and vibist Walt Dickerson (who doesn't appear on the record) is a blowing date centered around the notion of drug addiction and hopelessness for the addict/slave musician who ends up in places like Rikers Island". (Wiki). I think most of those on the record had served time, Elmo had been in Rikers with Sonny Rollins, "Carving the Rock" was a result. I personally find it interesting but mixed. The tracks with the basic band are fine, particularly John Gilmore, some of the additional players much less so. I still think the 1959 Contemporary trio album with Butler and Bond is magnificent and his most satisfying trio record. A genuine classic.

[Ian Thumwood]

The track Three Quarters Silver is another Elmo composition which apparently has 15 bar form which is unusual. This is more akin to the kind of stuff Nichols wrote. Alot of the Elmo music on the website seems more orthodox but maybe more akin to Richard TwardIk in evolving the style of Bud Powell. The website offers some useful technical information of his composition.

[Jazzrook]

Agree with BN that Elmo’s 1959 trio album is an overlooked classic and here’s ‘Minor Bertha’ from that session:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=JFdcpLyyZMw

JR