The renaissance of vinyl reissues continues with this Desert Island Disc of West Coast saxist Harold Land. He made his name as part of Clifford Brown’s Quintet in the 1950s,but spent most of his time in California, so most jazz fans have never heard of him. Too bad, as he put out a ton of great material, with this 1959 session possibly his best.
He had a big full sound, not unlike Sonny Rollins, and here with Elmo Hope/p, Dupree Bolton/tp, Frank Butler/dr and Herbie Lewis/b, he bops and swerves on a mix of his own tunes and that of his pianist, like the tricky “One Second, Please” and the dug in “One Down”. His own tunes like “Fox” and “Little Chris” are catchy and well grooved, and Land’s mix of a big tone and Lester Youngish legato is simply irresistible. Vintage sounds that are as timeless as late period Mozart symphonies.