California-based tenor saxophonist Harold Land had a long and versatile recording career both as a sideman and as a leader. Of the latter albums, The Fox, first released in 1960, is widely considered to be his best; it sees reissue on 180 gram vinyl April 12 as part of Craft Recordings’ ongoing Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series. It is an album defined by sturdy ensemble play, inspired soloing, and a multifaceted backstory. We delve into it all below.
On The Fox, Harold Land and his assembled crew tear into the opening title track with such energy that it sounds like the year is not 1959 (this set, an early producer credit for David Axelrod, was recorded in August of that year) but 1949, infused as it is with uncut “get the no-talent scrubs off the bandstand” bebop verve.
1949 was the year Land debuted as a leader on record, cutting “San Diego Bounce” b/w “I’ll Remember April” by the Harold Land All-Stars, a 78rpm disc issued by the Savoy subsidiary Regent. That record’s vintage means Land was firsthand witness to the angular intensity of the original bebop era, though “San Diego Bounce” isn’t bop but a potent strain of instrumental R&B.
Land’s rise in stature included a lengthy stint performing and recording with the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet, a key group in the refinement of hard bop in the mid-1950s. Following the end of that band due to trumpeter Brown’s untimely death in a car accident, Land joined the outfit of bassist Curtis Counce, a move that first brought him into the sphere of Contemporary Records, where Counce recorded and Land cut his debut LP, Harold in the Land of Jazz in 1958.
Notably, The Fox wasn’t a follow-up for Contemporary. It was released in 1960 by HiFi Jazz, a subsidiary of HiFi Records, itself a sublabel of Everest Records. Lester Koenig reissued The Fox on Contemporary in 1969, effectively rescuing it from obscurity as Land was entering a long stretch of productivity alongside the great vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson.
Koenig’s decision to return The Fox to availability was pretty clearly based upon the high quality of the playing Land and his group deliver across the set’s six tracks, two composed by Land and four by the pianist on the LP, the terrific and still somewhat underrated Elmo Hope, who shapes up as a true contemporary of Land. After playing in R&B bands Hope took part in a 1953 session for Blue Note co-led by alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson and Clifford Brown prior to the formation of the quintet with Max Roach.
Released on 10-inch vinyl, the Brown-Donaldson session is an important recording in the evolution of hard bop. 10-inch records for Blue Note by Hope’s trio and quintet quickly followed. After signing with Prestige, Hope delivered full LPs as a leader, but losing his cabaret card due to drug arrests (meaning he couldn’t play in clubs) precipitated a move to the West Coast and a period of sustained productivity including a quintet record featuring Land. Both Hope and Land played in Counce’s group, and after contributing arrangements to Harold in the Land of Jazz, Hope joined his band for The Fox.
The attention paid to Hope here is wholly warranted, as he could’ve easily been billed as co-leader of The Fox. In addition to his compositions, Hope’s playing, cerebral yet infused with bop spirit, validates his inclusion on a tight subcategory of midcentury Modern Jazz piano led by Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell and including another underrated figure, Herbie Nichols.
The rhythm section heard on The Fox is rounded out by bassist Herbie Lewis and drummer Frank Butler, the latter something of a Contemporary Records’ mainstay. Completing the quintet is trumpeter Dupree Bolton. If Hope is still undersung, Bolton is downright obscure due to mysteriousness of background (a life dominated by drug problems) and a minuscule discography.
The sheer force of Bolton’s blowing is a major element in the opening selection’s breakneck bebop thrust, suggesting that he and the group were desirous of making their mark in an increasingly crowded field on the cusp of a new decade. Solidifying this impression, “The Fox” retains a sense of collective control as it pushes forward, the soloing tough and expressive, first Land, next Bolton (quickly putting the kibosh on any doubts to his talent), and then Hope peppered with interjections of horn. Butler’s short solo bursts seal the deal and the head takes it out.
Hope’s “Mirror-Mind Rose” slows the tempo but with no decrease in creative heat. If balladic, the tune’s progression is never sleepy, the interplay of the horns appealing as is the full-bodied soloing. Reigniting the pace, Hope’s “One Second, Please” begins with a piano flourish that’s subtly redolent of Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunesia,” and then the band swings into a lively hard-bop groove.
Land’s playing embraces aspects familiar to Sonny Rollins, Johhny Griffin and even a bit of John Coltrane (a much bigger influence on Land’s later work) while honing an individual instrumental voice. Unlike Hope, Land didn’t migrate to Cali from NYC, but rather Texas (like Ornette Coleman). Once settled on the West Coast, Land thrived without ever falling completely under the sway of the cool school.
Hope’s “Sims A-Plenty,” alternately spikey and swaying in the head arrangement, is a fine example of Land’s hard-bop allegiance, its compositional smarts deepened by the ensemble’s firepower. That’s not to suggest Land was opposed to dabbling in more relaxed, shall we say temperate atmospheres, as the unperturbed theme to “Little Chris,” the saxophonist’s other tune on the album, makes clear. But still, the cut does work up a considerable head of steam as Butler gives his kit a workout.
The Fox captures Lewis at the dawn of long career, and while he’s provided no solo space here (not unusual) the bassist does swing the rhythm with authority throughout, and particularly so in the torrid opener and during Hope’s Latin-tinged closing number “One Down.” Harold Land and his group might not transcend Modern Jazz norms across The Fox, but they do embody everything that’s worthwhile in the form.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
