Elmo Hope - The Final Sessions Vols. 1-2 (1991)

While there have been other items dubbed "final sessions," these tracks issued on Inner City Records -- originally done for the Festival label -- are truly Elmo Hope's parting-shot recordings, done in 1966 before his death in May of 1967. With bassist John Ore and either drummer Clifford Jarvis in the main or Philly Joe Jones on one cut, Hope's incredible virtuosity and individuality were with him right to the end. A disciple of Bud Powell with a touch of Thelonious Monk mixed in, Hope was definitely their equivalent as he matured and grew, with Herbie Nichols and Phineas Newborn as potential rival peer talents. These eight original compositions mark Hope as a progressive thinker steeped in the bebop tradition who can't be held back in his assessment and execution of extrapolated melodies and rip-roaring lines that sound unstoppable as anyone in modern jazz. On point is the way Hope slides through the melody of "Roll On" before a virtuosic jam that has all of the harmonic hallmarks of both Monk and Nichols. Reflective of the choppy Duke Ellington Asiatic technique, "Bird's View" uses a most interesting two-handed dialect on a bossa nova base, while that ten-fingered mode is less articulated but still manifest on during "Grammy." In a bop vein, the shortie "Vi Ann" more accurately reflects the Charlie Parker via Bud Powell aesthetic, while the faster playful blues-based "Punch That" hits that target bull's-eye dead on. It seems Hope never leaves things open-ended, as he resolves the nine-minute blues excursion "Toothsome Threesome" alongside Ore and Jarvis with verve and panache. The long solo intro on "Pam," with Philly Joe and Ore in a nominal role, showcases his unrelenting bemused thought process that pervades throughout, but is really pronounced here. Perhaps the most memorable composition, and one that has become a minor standard, "If I Could I Would," sums up this total package of wit, wisdom, and fascination with extensions of standard jazz language, mixing midtempo modal post-bop with a slight Latin tinge. If only Hope could have held out for a few more decades, we might have heard the advancements that this wonderful CD suggests were in the making. However, as they stand, this release and a second volume of his last sessions (combined on a release for the Evidence label) are a proper concluding will and testament for a truly brilliant musician the world still has not fully recognized.