His claim to fame is touring France with the Rex Stewart Band in 1948, getting in some fine tenor solos on the several recordings made during the visit.
Sadly Vernon died at age 84 yesterday in California. Until a couple of years ago Verrnon had no idea the recordings had been reissued and the nice thing was that my brother-in-law (he's married to Vernon's daughter) was able to get the records and reintroduce him to them. He was delighted to know that his music was out there and he was still remembered.
Just played the Quintet tracks again. Stunning stuff. Harden's compositions are great, and he has a lovely tone. Coltrane sounds as good as he gets at this period. Can't fault the rhythm team, Watkins especially is spot on. Fabulous music
Can't recall any Imulse albums from Philips. Early Impulse albums were imports into the UK from the US. Later, US jackets were used with French pressings. EMI also issued many Impulse albums using original cover art but not the gatefold sleeves.
On our last trip to the US (last Autumn) we rented a Toyota Highlander. We did about 2000 miles around New Mexico and Arizona. This was my first experience of a hybrid and I was a very impressed by the car. From this limited experience I'm sure it wasn't that ecomomical on the highway. Didn't really get a chance to evaluate it's city driving ecomomy. But as car, definitely recommended. High drool factor.