Harold Land

I'm starting here because the first CD I ever bought featured the Clifford Brown-Max Roach ensemble. I bought this during the lean years when recording companies were changing formats from LPs to CDs. These were dire times: I remember not being able to find Blue Train on vinyl. By the way, I'm not getting out of this chair to read the CD liner notes to verify what I'm about to write: that's the Internet's job, not mine. I recall that the CD featured the aforementioned jazz icons, as well as - I'm gonna say - Richie Powell on piano (brother of Bud?) and - with certainty - Harold Land on tenor sax. I'll take a flyer and say Doug Watkins was the bass player (I'm still refusing to verify ANY of this information). It seems to me that Sonny Rollins replaced Harold Land in this group, post 1955, making Harold Land the answer to a great jazz trivia question.

Though Land was from Texas, he spent much of his career on the West Coast, performing with, among others, Gerald Wilson's big band and recording several notable records with Bobby Hutcherson, post-corporate takeover of Blue Note Records.

The Harold Land track comes from a late 50s album entitled The Fox. The track is called Little Chris, composed by Harold Land, and is reminiscent of Syeeda's Song Flute, which, notably, was released on Giant Steps several months after The Fox. I'm sure the BMI or ASCAP website could settle any debate over the provenance of these tunes.

I found the following site that has helpful biographical information on Harold Land, as well as some fine photos.

http://haroldland.jazzgiants.net/