Due to his decision to settle in Los Angeles, tenor saxophonist
Harold Land has long been underrated. A strong bop stylist who later on would be influenced a great deal by
John Coltrane,
Land in 1959 had a sound closer to
Sonny Rollins. For this excellent straight-ahead quintet set with trumpeter
Dupree Bolton and pianist
Elmo Hope,
Land performs four of
Hope's superior but little-known compositions along with two of his own. This is high-quality hard bop, easily recommended to fans of straight-ahead jazz.