# Harold Land

Harold de Vance Land (December 18, 1928 – July 27, 2001) was an American hard bop and post-bop tenor saxophonist. Land developed his hard bop playing with the Max Roach/Clifford Brown band into a personal, modern style, often rivalling Clifford Brown's instrumental ability with his own inventive and whimsical solos. His tone was strong and emotional, yet hinted at a certain introspective fragility.

## Biography

Land was born in Houston, Texas, United States and grew up in San Diego, California. He started playing at the age of 16. He made his first recording as the leader of the Harold Land All-Stars, for Savoy Records in 1949. In 1954, he joined the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet, with whom he was at the forefront of the hard-bop/bebop movement. The Land family moved from San Diego to Los Angeles, in 1955. There he played with Curtis Counce, led his own groups, and co-led groups with Bobby Hutcherson, Blue Mitchell, and Red Mitchell. From the 1970s onwards, his style showed the influence of John Coltrane.
In the early 1980s through to the early 1990s he worked regularly with the Timeless All Stars, a group sponsored by the Timeless jazz record label. The group consisted of Land on tenor, Cedar Walton on piano, Buster Williams on bass, Billy Higgins on drums, Curtis Fuller on trombone and Bobby Hutcherson on vibes. Land also toured with his own band during this time, often including his son, Harold Land Jr., on piano and usually featuring Bobby Hutcherson and Billy Higgins as well. During these years he played regularly at Hop Singh's in Marina Del Rey in the L.A. area and the Keystone Korner in San Francisco.
Land was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He joined the UCLA Jazz Studies Program as a lecturer in 1996 to teach instrumental jazz combo. "Harold Land was one of the major contributors in the history of the jazz saxophone," said jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell, founder and director of the UCLA Jazz Studies Program.
Land died in July 2001, from a stroke, at the age of 72.
The progressive rock band Yes included a song "Harold Land" on their eponymous debut album in 1969. In a news/blog post on 20 September 2010, Bill Bruford commented about the song - "Harold Land was a hard-bop tenor saxophone player, dead now, but quite why we named a song after him I can't remember."

## Playing style

Land had an inimitably dark tone within the hard-bop and modal jazz paradigms. Over time this would contrast more and more with the brighter tonalities of more Coltrane-influenced saxophonists, although Land started to implement Coltrane's musical innovations. Land's "dire, brooding [tenor saxophone] sound began somewhere between rhythm and blues and Coleman Hawkins, and after the early 1960s owed more and more to John Coltrane's harmonies, phrasing and experiments with modalism."

## Discography
### As leader/co-leader

| Year recorded | Title | Label | Year released | Personnel/Notes |
| 1958-01 | Harold in the Land of Jazz | Contemporary | 1958 | Quintet, with Land (tenor sax), Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Carl Perkins (piano), Leroy Vinnegar (bass), Frank Butler (drums); reissued as Grooveyard (Contemporary, 1963) |
| 1958-11 | Jazz at the Cellar 1958 | Lone Hill Jazz | 2007 | Quartet, with Land (tenor sax), Elmo Hope (piano), Scott LaFaro (bass), Lenny McBrowne (drums) |
| 1959-08 | The Fox | HiFi Jazz | 1960 | Quintet, with Land (tenor sax), Dupree Bolton (trumpet), Elmo Hope (piano), Herbie Lewis (bass), Frank Butler (drums) |
| 1960-05 | West Coast Blues! | Jazzland | 1960 | Sextet, with Land (tenor sax), Joe Gordon (trumpet), Barry Harris (piano), Wes Montgomery (guitar), Sam Jones (bass), Louis Hayes (drums) |
| 1960-07 | Eastward Ho! Harold Land in New York | Jazzland | 1961 | Quintet, with Land (tenor sax), Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Amos Trice (piano), Clarence Jones (bass), Joe Peters (drums) |
| 1960-07 | Take Aim | Blue Note | 1980 | Quintet, with Land (tenor sax), Martin Banks (trumpet), Amos Trice (piano), Clarence Jones (bass), Leon Pettis (drums) |
| 1961-10 1961-12 | Hear Ye! – with Red Mitchell | Atlantic | 1962 | Quintet, with Land (tenor sax), Red Mitchell (bass), Carmell Jones (trumpet), Frank Strazzeri (piano), Leon Pettis (drums) |
| 1963-07 | Jazz Impressions of Folk Music | Imperial | 1963 | Quintet, with Land (tenor sax), Carmell Jones (trumpet), John Houston (piano), Jim Bond (bass), Mel Lee (drums) |
| 1967-12 1968-02 | The Peace-Maker | Cadet | 1968 | Quintet, with Land (tenor sax), Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), Joe Sample (piano), Buster Williams (bass), Donald Bailey (drums, harmonica) |
| 1971? | A New Shade of Blue | Mainstream | 1971 | Sextet, with Land (tenor sax), Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), Bill Henderson (piano, electric piano), Buster Williams (bass), Billy Hart (drums), James Mtume (congas) |
| 1971? | Choma (Burn) | Mainstream | 1971 | Septet, with Land (tenor sax), Bobby Hutcherson (vibes, marimba), Bill Henderson (piano), Harold Land Jr. (piano, electric piano), Reggie Johnson (bass), Billy Hart (drums), Ndugu Chancler and Woody Theus (drums) |
| 1972? | Damisi | Mainstream | 1972 | Quintet, with Land (tenor sax, oboe), Oscar Brashear (trumpet), Bill Henderson (piano, electric piano), Buster Williams (bass), Ndugu Chancler (drums) |
| 1977-04 | Mapenzi – with Blue Mitchell | Concord Jazz | 1977 | Quintet, with Land (tenor sax), Blue Mitchell (trumpet, flugelhorn), Kirk Lightsey (keyboards), Reggie Johnson (bass), Albert Heath (drums) |
| 1980-12 | Live at Junk – with Eiji Kitamura | Yupiteru | 1981 | Quintet, with Land (tenor sax), Eiji Kitamura (clarinet), Toshihiko Ogawa (piano), Mitsuaki Furuno (bass), Donald Bailey (drums); live |
| 1981-10 | Xocia's Dance | Muse | 1982 | Septet, with Land (tenor sax), Oscar Brashear (trumpet, flugelhorn), Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), George Cables (piano), John Heard (bass), Billy Higgins (drums), Ray Armando (percussion) |
| 1984-06 | Topology – with Makoto Terashita | Aketa's Disk | 1984 | Quintet, with Land (tenor sax), Makoto Terashita (piano), Yasushi Yoneki (bass), Mike Reznikoff (drums), Takayuki Koizumi (percussion) |
| 1994-12 | A Lazy Afternoon | Postcards | 1995 | Quartet, with Land (tenor sax), Bill Henderson (piano), James Leary (bass), Billy Higgins (drums) |
| 2000-08 | Promised Land | Audiophoric | 2000 | Quartet, with Land (tenor sax), Mulgrew Miller (piano), Ray Drummond (bass), Billy Higgins (drums) |

### As a member

The Timeless All Stars
* It's Timeless (Timeless, 1982)
* Timeless Heart (Timeless, 1983)
* Essence (Delos, 1986)
* Time for the Timeless All Stars (Early Bird, 1990)