Elmo Hope born 27 June 1923

St. Elmo Sylvester Hope was born in New York and began piano studies by age seven. He went on to win prizes for his piano recitals. He was a childhood friend of Bud Powell, and Thelonious Monk and they would play piano for each other. He continued to play and improve and upon his return from the army in 1943, he dedicated his life to jazz piano, paying his dues in small clubs in the Bronx, Greenwich Village, and Coney Island. 

After a short stint with Snub Mosely's combo he joined Joe Morris in 1948, working with him into 1951. That band recorded for Atlantic, and there was also a date in 1949 for Decca where the pianist is listed in Jepsen's discography as Elmore Sylvester. However, the only numbers which would have given an indication of Elmo's jazz abilities remain unreleased to this day. It was not until June of ’53 where dates with Lou Donaldson and Clifford Brown for Blue Note started to give Elmo Hope a name in jazz circles. He followed quickly with some sessions as leader, and another with Frank Foster, both for Prestige. There were further Prestige sides cut with top players as John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, with Paul Chambers bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. 

Elmo’s piano style was overshadowed by the growing popularity of both Powell and Monk, and though he was in there since the beginning of the bebop movement, he was compared to and judged against the other two. His cabaret license was pulled for a previous drug conviction and this severely limited where he could work if at all. This would start a cycle of disillusionment and frustration that would hound him all his life. 

In April 1956 he was supposed to be the pianist on a Gene Ammons session later released as The Happy Blues, but after arriving at the Prestige offices on West 50th Street ahead of time, he left and had to be replaced by Duke Jordan before the band motored to New Jersey and Van Gelder's studio. That was a Friday Afternoon. The following Tuesday, Elmo showed up, explaining he had gone to "visit a sick aunt" at Roosevelt Hospital about nine blocks away and had lost track of the time. It was obvious that Hope was caught up in the pursuit of the "horse" that many musicians were riding at the time. 

           Here’s “All The Things You Are” from above album.

California seemed like the place to try it next, and so in 1957 he went west with Chet Baker. Hope was suffering from respiratory aliments, and the dry climate suited him just fine. There was a brief spell working with Lionel Hampton, then joining Harold Land, with whom he recorded “The Fox” in ’59, followed by a session with his own trio. In 1958 he met his wife-to-be Bertha, also a pianist, and married her in 1960 and was at least happy and healthy. But there was not much work out on the coast for a bebop pianist, and he grew restless again. 

So it was back to New York, where in ’61 he recorded “Homecoming” (Riverside) with Blue Mitchell, Jimmy Heath, and Frank Foster, these sessions included Percy Heath on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums, who were on his trio sides at this time. There was a solo piano effort where he was joined by his wife Bertha, also a pianist. There were a couple of more recordings in ’61 for the Celebrity and Beacon labels, which were remakes of some of his older material. 

His next recording was not until 1963 and, by its very title and context, Jazz From Riker's Island, indicated that Hope was again involved with his heroin habit. He had not been visible on the New York club scene in any prominent way and this was also the case during the next few years. It was commonly believed that the 1963 album had been his last as a leader but in May and August of 1966 he did two trio sessions for Herb Abramson's Festival Records, but not released for 11 years. Hope's final concert was at Judson Hall in New York City in 1966. Fellow pianist Horace Tapscott reported that, later, Hope's "hands were all shot up and he couldn't play". 

Visits to one hospital that was experienced in addressing the health problems of drug addicts left Hope feeling that he was being experimented on, so he went to another, St. Clare's. Here, according to his wife, the treatment was not adjusted for the methadone program he was on, putting added strain on his heart. Hope was hospitalized with pneumonia in 1967 and died a few weeks later, on May 19, of heart failure. His wife was aged 31 at the time of his death. 

Bertha Hope has released albums dedicated to her former husband's compositions. She and her later husband, bassist Walter Booker, created a band named "Elmollenium" in 1999, which played Elmo's compositions. She transcribed recordings to recreate his arrangements, following an apartment fire that destroyed most of the original manuscripts. 

(Edited from All About Jazz & Wikipedia)