Harold Land and Me… — Vinyl Magic

Jazz has a lot to do with the vibrations of the moment. Perhaps with the communication between the group that’s participating, which would be aside from the amount of creative ability within each individual on the stand at that moment. It’s just, if things start working—or if they don’t. Which can happen at any given time, no matter what music is being played. A lot of times I think musicians can feel on the stand that it’s really happening, but the audience might not be aware of what they’re feeling. Then it can often be reversed; the audience can be completely bowled over, yet the musicians won’t feel that way. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess—or rather, the ear of the listener.
Harold Land
Jazz is not going to change, no matter how much anybody attempts to blacken it. Jazz has been here for quite some time, and it doesn’t seem to be rubbed out, despite the obstacles it has to get over. It still thrives; there’s still millions of youngsters in the new generation coming up who want to play jazz. Even though they know they can go out and get a guitar, learn three changes and make thousands of dollars, their ambition is still to be jazz players. Why? That shows what a strong quality jazz has as an art. It’s no mirage—it’s for real.
Harold Land 1969 interview

***Harold In The Land Of Jazz (1958) signed by Harold***

We were driving around - can’t even recall where - but I asked him who his favorite trumpeter was and you know who he said? Not Dizzy, not Miles. Fats Navarro. And I told him Fats is my favorite, too. As a matter of fact, there’s a solo that Fats takes on “Out of Nowhere” - it’s a Tadd Dameron arrangement - that whenever I listen to it, it brings tears to my eyes. There was a certain quality to his playing that always moved me.
Harold Land on Clifford Brown
I know I would have had much wider acceptance if I had been based in New York.
Harold Land

***Eastward Ho! Harold Land In New York (1960) signed by Harold***

Harold Land is one of the great hard bop Jazz tenor saxophonists. Just ask Sonny Rollins who said in a recent interview: “Harold Land was one of the premier saxophonists of the time. He was one of the best… a great player, one of my favorites.” Terribly underrated, Harold’s prominence and renown was possibly dimmed by his allegiance and fealty to his West Coast roots, although his talents shone brilliantly on numerous recordings with Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Curtis Counce, Bobby Hutcherson and the Gerald Wilson Orchestra. Harold also furnished his fulsome skills on sessions with Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd, Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald, Hampton Hawes, Thelonious Monk and countless other jazz icons in his storied career.

***You Get More Bounce With Curtis Counce! (1957)***

Born in Houston, Texas, raised in San Diego, Harold Land was a late bloomer, initially playing piano and not picking up the saxophone in earnest until he was sixteen and heard the captivating tones of the inimitable Coleman Hawkins blowing “Body And Soul,” Hawk’s tour de force, and a source of inspiration for all saxophonists. After graduating from high school, Harold honed his skills, knocking around San Diego playing clubs and touring briefly with rhythm and blues band leaders Jimmy and Joe Liggins. In 1954, Harold moved to Los Angeles where he serendipitously met trumpet extraordinaire Clifford Brown. Harold was jamming at the home of his friend Eric Dolphy when Clifford heard him play. Clifford soon hired Harold to replace Teddy Edwards as tenor saxophonist in his important and heralded band, which Clifford had co-founded with Max Roach a year earlier.

***Jam Session (1954) signed by Harold, Max Roach, Maynard Ferguson, Junior Mance, Clark Terry***

Harold left his wife and young son in Los Angeles and went east, joining the Brown-Roach juggernaut which toured and recorded incessantly, and created some of the most passionate hard bop jazz records including Jam Session (1954), Brown and Roach Incorporated (1954), and Study In Brown (1955). Though the music was exhilarating, being on the road and away from his family while living in Philadelphia was wearying and difficult. Then, his grandmother fell ill and Harold disclosed, "After being away from Lydia and my son for two and a half years, I figured the best thing for me was to go back home and stay." Despite Clifford's protestations to remain, Harold was resolute and left to rejoin his family. Meanwhile, Brown and Roach recruited saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins as Harold's replacement, certainly a noteworthy addition and an invaluable consolation prize.

***Study In Brown (1954) signed by Harold, Max Roach “Thanks Brownie”***

Harold's decision to depart had a larger significance, as it probably saved his life. As his wife Lydia recalled, "If Harold had not come back when he did, he probably would have been in that car with Brownie. He and Brownie always drove together." Indeed, it was a tragedy when Clifford Brown and pianist Richie Powell (Bud's equally talented brother!) crashed on the wet slick anaconda that was the Pennsylvania Turnpike and perished on June 26, 1956 leaving the jazz world stunned. Brownie was just twenty-five years old while Powell was twenty-four, and their talents were as respected as their losses were devastating.

Harold remembered Brownie fondly, “Clifford Brown was a very beautiful person. He had a very warm personality and usually seemed so relaxed it made me relaxed to be around him. In my opinion, Brownie had a very even temperament, if that’s the best way to describe it, and a kind of wisdom or knowledge of himself and those around him, and of life in general, that one associates with someone quite a bit older than he was at the time. And to me these same qualities were evident when he expressed himself through his instrument. I have had more than one talented musician say to me, referring to Brownie, that he played his instrument like a young old man! And in each instance I’m sure they meant this statement to be an extremely beautiful compliment, that a man so young in years could acquire such command, depth, and broad musical scope in such a relatively short span of time. Playing with the fire and creativeness of a young man, and with the depth, tenderness, and insight into past, present, and future of an older man.”

***Memphis Jackson (1970) signed by Harold, Milt Jackson, Ray Brown, Teddy Edwards, Harry Sweets Edison, Ernie Watts***

Despite the loss, Harold soldiered on and released several influential albums as a leader, Harold In The Land Of Jazz, The Fox, and Eastward Ho! Harold Land In New York. Harold then joined the Gerald Wilson Orchestra, a highly acclaimed group of West Coast players under the helm and steely guidance of noted arranger and composer Gerald Wilson. Harold participated on thirteen Gerald Wilson albums in the ensuing decades along with other esteemed jazz colleagues, saxophonist Teddy Edwards, organist Richard "Groove" Holmes, trumpeter Carmell Jones, guitarist Joe Pass, pianist Jack Wilson and vibraphonist Roy Ayers, a supremely gifted ensemble. Another key collaboration was Harold's relationship with vibraphone master Bobby Hutcherson on eight distinguished Blue Note albums. Although Harold did not share the notoriety of some of his New York City peers, he was, nonetheless, prolific and influential as evidenced by his impressive discography.

***Gerald Wilson Orchestra: Live and Swinging (1967) signed by Gerald, Charles Tolliver***

In 1996, Harold joined the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as a lecturer at the behest of guitarist Kenny Burrell, the Director of Jazz Studies who had helped create the program in the 1970s. Remembering Harold on his passing in 2001, Kenny said, "Harold Land was one of the major contributors in the history of the jazz saxophone. He was a vital and well-loved member of the jazz faculty here at UCLA."

I only saw Harold Land once in the late 1990s at the Jazz Standard in New York City. Harold rarely ventured east so it was a rare and exciting opportunity to see him perform. He had great musicians with him, drummer Billy Higgins, pianist Mulgrew Miller and bassist Ray Drummond. The performance featured songs off Harold’s 1995 release A Lazy Afternoon, mostly a compelling set of standards, "In A Sentimental Mood," "But Beautiful, "What's New," and a Thelonious Monk seldom heard nugget "Ugly Beauty." It was a sterling night of music propelled by these transcendent musicians.

As voluble and expressive as Harold was with his horn on stage, he was equally quiet and taciturn off stage. He was pleased to sign his vinyl but he didn’t exude much excitement nor proffer any insights. I thanked him for his time and his extraordinary oeuvre of music. Sadly, a couple of years after this concert, Harold passed away on July 27, 2001 after suffering a stroke at the age of seventy-two. It was a terrible loss as Harold was beginning to record and tour more. Fortunately, Harold's enduring music is timeless and sustains.