Earlier today I was playing the Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk CD on Atlantic. The playing of Bill Hardman struck me as outstanding. His solo on Blue Monk is a fine example of Hardman's fine jazz trumpet playing. There were many very good hard bop trumpet players who came to the forefront in the late 1950's and beyond. As a result Hardman was not given the recognition that, in my view, he deserved. Players such as Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Donald Byrd, and Blue Mitchell received many accolades while Hardman was rarely mentioned as belonging to that top level group.

One exception was an article I recall reading many decades ago in the British periodical JAZZ MONTHLY. In that article , author Michael James wrote in glowing terms about Bill Hardman, and if I recall correctly indicated that he generally preferred Hardman's playing to that of Morgan and Hubbard. I share that opinion. In Hardman's playing I hear a strong Clifford Brown influence but with an individualism that fits beautifully with the hard bop music of Jackie McLean and Blakey's Jazz Messengers. His trumpet lines flow with harmonic and rhythmic skill that results in solos that are melodically logical and most enjoyable.

Though I don't recall the exact year, (perhaps the late 1970's?) I saw the Bill Hardman/Junior Cook Quintet with Walter Bishop,Jr., Paul Brown and Leroy Williams playing at a New York City club. While Junior Cook played very well, I have a strong memory of how highly impressed I was by the terrific playing of Bill Hardman. Many of his solos inspired me to break out in a wide smile and sometimes a vocal exclamation of something such as "Yeah!!!" To the best of my knowledge that was unfortunately the only time I saw Bill Hardman play in the flesh. However I have a very large collection of recordings with Hardman that I get pleasure from hearing.

Chops-wise I think it's hard to make the case that his early playing ranks with early Hubbard , Byrd or Morgan . IMO his later playing ( starting with the '61 Savoy side ) is better both technically and stylistically .

Just out of curiosity , why couldn't your comments be appended to the existing Hardman thread ?

I saw the Hardman / Cook band also, Peter. They had Mickey Tucker and Billy Higgins in it. A very dynamic band.
I also remember being schocked by the huge holes in Higgins' arms, and I came from a neighborhood where fiends were rampant!

The only other time I saw him was with Blakey at Alice Tully Hall, around the same time.

This one is good:

Dates I can remember are; with Blakey at Roberts Show Lounge in Chicago, leading a band at Slugs with Ramon Morris (also in the Messengers) and a Jimmy Smith Jam I put together for the Chicago Jazz Festival. The fest band included Bill, Junior Cook, Lou Donaldson, Ray Crawford. Since Blakey was in Japan at the time, Jimmy brought his current drummer and I don't remember his name.

If anyone has a tape of the festival broadcast, I'd be most grateful.

That was a hell of a set, maybe better than any Blue Note jam session with Smith -- one of the best examples I can recall of Chuck's sense of how to assemble just the right guys. I thought the drummer was Mickey Roker, but clearly I'm wrong there.

Early Hardman had a certain stiffness (as in the title of that Jazz Messengers tune "Stanley's Stiff Chickens") and thinness of tone that was, if you dug him, inseparable from what made him so good. In effect, he really didn't have that many licks, if any, though it sounded as though he might; he was just trying to keep the line moving forward at all costs -- just a very serious honest player. Later on, as he became a better player of the instrument, he just got better and better overall.

What was the date Chuck?
Maybe I can have one of my friends find it.

I found the information:

Saturday, September 5, 1981
Jimmy Smith Jam Session
Jimmy Smith, organ/ Bill Hardman, trumpet; Lou Donaldson, alto sax; Junior Cook, tenor sax; Ray
Crawford, guitar; Kenny Dixon, drums

That's it.

what do u mean about his arms?

Holes from abscesses and needles, Chewy.

I am a fan of the Messengers that featured Hardman, McLean, Dockery and De Brest and have most of their recordings. Bill's work is exactly as Larry describes under "early Hardman", and there was a fierceness in his playing which was entirely in keeping with the character of this group as a whole.

I always felt that Hardman had a very distinctive sound & style.
He may not have had the "technique" of some of the usual suspects, but he could always (IMO) be identified very easily.

His leader date for Savoy was pretty good, IIRC.