Here's Hope!

by Scott Yanow In 1961, underrated bop pianist Elmo Hope recorded a pair of really obscure albums for the soon-defunct Celebrity and Beacon labels. Both were fortunately reissued by V.S.O.P. in the 1980s on two of their first LPs, then came out on CD in 2000 on the Prevue label. This date, which matches Hope with bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, features the pianist playing six of his compositions, including the catchy "De-Dah," which Clifford Brown had played eight years earlier. The one flaw of the album is that there are only 27 minutes of music, although the quality is quite high.