Harold Land
The Fox....
Harold’s been one of the finest tenor players I’ve heard and I have hardly heard a write-up about what this man has been doing through the years…. I’ve known him for 30 years, 35 years, and he’s been playing jazz morning, noon, and night…. In New York he would have gotten more.
- Buddy Collette
I first heard Harold Land on Curtis Counce’s 1958 album Exploring the Future on the Dootone Records label:
Along with Art Pepper’s Surf Ride, these were a couple of the early West Coast Jazz albums I picked up at Logos Books and Records in Santa Cruz. They put me on the path of many great, perhaps lesser known and therefore under-appreciated, West Coast musicians like Carl Perkins, Curtis Counce, Elmo Hope, Frank Butler, and tenorman Harold Land, who began his jazz journey in San Diego.
On the liner notes to the Savoy album Black California (The Savoy Sessions), released by Arista Records in 1976, Patricia Willard wrote this about a young Harold Land during the San Diego Jazz scene in the late 1940s and early 1950s:
A couple of hours down the coast at San Diego, the black music scene, in many ways, was a microcosmic reflection of what was happening in Los Angeles.
Froebel Brigham was considered in San Diego to be one of the most exciting trumpeters in the country. He returned his hometown’s devotion by refusing all offers to tour or even play a gig outside the city. Froe’s band had a steady following at the Creole Palace, a club on Market Street owned by an elderly lady known as Miss Mabel. Their off-nights were booked months ahead for parties and dances. Harold Land was a self-taught teenager when he began playing tenor sax with Froe.
Froe Brigham had Harold, Freddie Jackson, and Leon Petties in his band, along with William Doty on alto and David Dyson on bass when Harold was offered the chance to record for Savoy in 1949. Froe made one of his rare excursions from San Diego to the L. A. recording studio and happily turned his band over to the leadership of his favorite tenor sax man. For this date, Land decided to add trombonist Russell Campbell.
A few months after his 21st birthday, Land recorded his first album, released in 1949 on the Regent label, a subsidiary of Savoy Records. Here are two sides from that session: San Diego Bounce; and on the flip side I’ll Remember April:
Incidentally, Clement “Coxsone” Dodd, record producer and founder of Jamacia’s epic Studio One record label, covered Land’s San Diego Bounce as Coxsone's Shuffle and turned it into a big hit at Kingston dance halls.
At the time of these Regent releases, Land was playing very much under the influence of Coleman Hawkins and Lucky Thompson, but you can also hear some bebop influences of Charlie Parker and Don Byas.
Soon after this recording, he decided to move to LA, where work was still hard to find. He recalls: “Things were a little rough at first. But it wasn’t just for me, it was for a lot of young musicians. So we spent a lot of time playing at each other’s houses. Like Eric Dolphy - we’d go over to his house and play all day long.”
In fact, it was at Dolphy’s house that Clifford Brown first heard Land. He returned the next day with Max Roach, and they offered him the a job with their band - and this was not just any band. This was the Clifford Brown - Max Roach Quintet.
In August 1954, Land played tenor on the quintet’s first recording, released on 10" vinyl in December 1954. It included only five tracks, all recorded at Capitol Studios in Hollywood. Soon after these August 1954 recordings, the quintet went east, to the Jazz world’s epicenter and roots of Brown, Roach, and pianist Richie Powell, Bud Powell’s younger brother.
In February of 1955, they entered the Capitol Studios in New York City and recorded two more track The Blues Walk and What Am I Here For. These tracks were added to the earlier tracks and released by EmArcy on this 12" album:
From the New York City session, here is The Blues Walk, with Land now playing fully in the bop tradition:
Unfortunately, Land’s time with the band ended in late 1955, when he learned his grandmother was terminally ill. He left the the band in Chicago and returned to San Diego. After his grandmother passed, he stayed on the West Coast and eventually returned to LA.
Most people only remember Harold Land’s work with this quintet and have little knowledge of his later work. Land recalls, “I think that’s why Eric (Dolphy) moved back east. There have been so many talented musicians out here that haven’t received the attention they deserve. if you didn’t get exposure back east you were sort of written off.”
For Harold Land, I think, the West Coast was the Best Coast. He produced most of his finest work in California. So on this week’s journey, we’ll stay with Harold Land on the West Coast and follow his journey up until his seminal 1968 Blue Note recording Total Eclipse with Bobby Hutcherson - our starting point last week.
Shortly after Land returned to LA, he recorded a string of fine records - all with one of my favorite drummers, Frank Butler. I’ll highlight four, beginning with the The Curtis Counce Group (1956), Elmo Hope Quintet featuring Harold Land (1957), For Real! (1958) with the Hampton Hawes Quartet, and finally The Fox (1959). All these recordings are on West Coast labels (three on Contemporary and one on Pacific Jazz) and showcase many excellent West Coast musicians who deserve wider recognition.
In October 1956, Harold Land joined the Curtis Counce Group, a quintet not unlike the Clifford Brown - Max Roach Quintet. Their first album was simply called The Curtis Counce Group.
From that album, here is A Fifth For Frank written by Cal Tjader and Gerald Wiggins, featuring the great Carl Perkins on piano and Jack Sheldon on trumpet:
In October of 1957, Land recorded four sides with the Elmo Hope Quintet, together with Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers was released on the Pacific Jazz label:
From that album, here is Elmo Hope’s composition St. Elmo’s Fire:
In February 1958, Land recorded with Hampton Hawes on For Real!, a great quartet outing with Scott La Faro on bass.
From For Real!, here is Hampton Hawes’ composition Hip:
The last of Land’s West Coast albums I’ll feature is The Fox, recorded in August 1959 in LA. This is a strong quintet that included Elmo Hope on piano, Dupree Bolton on trumpet, Herbie Lewis on bass, and Butler on drums.
From The Fox, here is Elmo Hope’s composition One Second, Please:
Here’s one more for the road. Right from the title track of Land’s 1967 The Peace-Maker on the Cadet label, you can now clearly hear Coltrane’s influence in his playing.
This is, I think, one of Land’s best sessions. I really like this quintet. Of course, Hutcherson is on vibes, but there’s also a killer rhythm section with Joe Sample on piano, Buster Williams on bass, and Jimmy Smith’s longtime drummer Donald Bailey.
I’m a harp player, so I have to play Stylin’. I really like Land’s flute playing on this one, but dig Donald Bailey’s harmonica.
Land’s next album was Total Eclipse with Hutcherson, which brings us full circle to where we started last week’s journey.
In his book Jazz West Coast, Robert Gordon writes, “So, stuck as they were thousands of miles from the centers of editorial power, the musicians in the group turned out their brand of hard-swinging jazz in relative obscurity. It wouldn’t be fair to say they were totally ignored by the influential critics, but they were seldom evaluated at their true worth.”
Gordon was writing about The Curtis Counce Group, but the same can be said about many of the great West Coast groups. I hope this week’s journey helps set the record straight for the great Harold Land.
Next week on that Big River called Jazz, we’ll dig our paddles in the waters to explore the another Californian, the great vibist Roy Ayers.
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Until then, keep on walking….