Elmo Hope

St. Elmo Sylvester Hope (called "Mo") (born June 27, 1923 in New York City , † May 19, 1967 ) was an American jazz pianist .

Live and act

Elmo Hope grew up in New York, learned to play the piano at an early age and won several prizes for solo lectures. Bud Powell was a childhood friend of his; both spent a lot of time listening to classical records. Hope toured for a few years with Joe Morris' rhythm and blues band , in which Philly Joe Jones also played, and from 1953 worked with Sonny Rollins , Clifford Brown ( Memorial Album 1953), Lou Donaldson and Jackie McLean . In 1957 he played with Chet Baker and moved to Los Angeles after losing his gaming license for drug abuse . He has appeared with Lionel Hampton and has appeared on records by Harold Land and Curtis Counce . He's also recorded with Frank Foster , John Coltrane , Hank Mobley , Art Blakey , Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. He returned to New York in 1961, but now had fewer opportunities to perform. In the same year he recorded another duo with Bertha Hope , his wife.

Hope, who mainly plays bebop and hardbop , is considered a very individual stylist. Pianists like Frank Hewitt or Sacha Perry have particularly emphasized his influence on their playing. His compositions led some fans and critics like David H. Rosenthal to put him on the same level as Bud Powell , Thelonious Monk or Herbie Nichols .

Discographic notes

• Trio and Quintet ( Blue Note Records , 1953–57) with Stu Williamson , Harold Land, Frank Foster, Percy Heath , Leroy Vinnegar , Frank Butler , Philly Joe Jones
• Meditations (OJC, 1958) with John Ore , Willie Jones
• All Star Sessions (OJC, 1956–1961) with Donald Byrd , Blue Mitchell , John Coltrane , Jimmy Heath , Hank Mobley, Percy Heath
• Plays his Original Compositions ( Fresh Sound Records , 1961) with Paul Chambers, Butch Warren , Granville Hogan , Philly Joe Jones
• Homecoming! ( Riverside / OJC, 1961) with Blue Mitchell, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones
• Hope-ful (OJC, 1961) with Bertha Hope
• The Final Sessions (Evidence, 1966) John Ore, Clifford Jarvis , Philly Joe Jones

Trivia

In 2016 the Austrian saxophonist Herwig Gradischnig and the German pianist Claus Raible , together with the Greek bassist Giorgos Antoniou and the British Steven Fishwick tp and Matt Home dm, presented a remarkable CD with the music of Elmo Hope - " Searching for Hope ".

literature

• Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz. 1800 bands and artists from the beginning until today. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-01892-X .
• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide of Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
• Ira Gitler : liner notes by Sextet and Trio - Homecoming (Riverside / OJC, 1961)
• Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon . Reinbek, Rowohlt, 1988

Web links

• Discography