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.