1960 The Harold Land Quintet “The Fox” on HiFi Jazz

I have to admit, I have a very weird relationship with this record. The ’69 RE is probably among the first 20 jazz records I ever ($5, tops) bought. I knew nothing about Harold Land (or jazz, or really anything else back then) but felt an immediate kinship with his tone, style, tempo, and ease. It sent me off on a total neophyte dive into Land, his sidemen, and Contemporary Records, which lead to Kessel, Niehaus, Manne, Counce, Coop, Collette, Previn, Golson, and of course Artie Pep and the whole West Coast thing, but most especially Ornette. Yet the The Fox painting always bothered me, to my eye un-evocative, dark, poorly rendered, and lacking an understanding of basic Color Theory. I think along with Wes Montgomery’s “A Day In The Life” it might be the two most aesthetically off-putting (hello, Herbie Mann) covers in all of jazz. But then I heard the mono version of the OG and cursed under my breath and upgraded. And then I heard the stereo version of the OG and upgraded to that. And, that’s currently where it stands with me and Harold Land over at Castle Wax. In any case, this record BURNS, pure post-bop banging swing with a killer lineup that includes MY MAN Dupree Bolton on trumpet (go down a rabbit hole on his life), the underrated Frank Butler on drums, MY MAN Elmo Hope on piano, and MY MAN Herbie Lewis on bass. I met Herbie Lewis a few times and he was also sweet as pie. PLUS the entire killer action is produced by David “Ax” Axelrod, and if that doesn’t mean anything to you, you might as well get into baseball card collecting. Bottom line? KILLER RECORD. Love it, at this point even the cover. A man can’t have everything he wants, Mick tells me, although Keef insists you can always git what ya need.

(btw, painting is credited to Saul White, who does appear to be a 60’s mod/boho painter of the era of some repute, a lot like DeKooning I would say, but also not. Either way, no proof if it’s the same dude)