If you haven’t heard of Harold Land, you need to first of all be reminded that he was part of Clifford Brown’s classic 50s quintet. Now, if you haven’t heard of Clifford Brown, then we need to talk.
Harold Land had the double bad fortune of being a hard bop tenor saxist during an era when the world was bubbling over with tenor saxists like Coltrane, Rollins and Gordon, just to name a few. Second strike against him was that he mostly lived in Los Angeles during a time when So Cal was a graveyard for boppers. Nonetheless, he carved out an impressive career up until he died in 2001. This album features his playing in a trio of different gigs with different bands, all recorded at The Penthouse in Seattle, Washington.
The rhythm section switches between pianists Hampton Hawes-John Houston-Buddy Montgomery, drummers Jimmy Lovelace-Mel Lee-Philly Joe Jones, and always with bassist Monk Montgomery (brother of you-know-who) with cool toned trumpeter Carmell Jones sitting in for the 1962 gig. That night has the team in swinging form, reminiscent of Land’s halcyon days with Clifford Brown, with a pulsating “Vendetta” and the team digging into “Beepdurple”. Land’s tone has a great sandied feel, and every note has a dancing tap to it. The 1964 concert has Land crooning with the bopper Hawes on “Autumn Leaves” and building up the Butanes as they stretch out on “Triplin’ The Groove”. A year later with Jones, the team stretches out over “Autumn Leaves” and percolates on “Beau-Ty” with Land giving an aria on “Who Can I Turn To?’ This guy made it sound easy, and if you listen to any guys playing the tenor these days, you soon realize that it’s not.