Hank Mobley Mobley's Message (1956) Flac

One more surprise from DJA, a complete never-before-heard performances by Hank Mobley, backed by Dutch players in three different sets taped live at the Bellevue theater in Amsterdam, at VARA studio in Hilversum and at the JazzClub B14 in Rotterdam. Mobley is accompanied by the brilliant pianist Pim Jacobs and drummer wizard Han Bennink in its only known collaboration to date.

Dippin' is one of Hank Mobley's finer moments, even considering that his entire Blue Note catalog is masterful, particularly his 1960s dates that reveal the depth and dimension of his understanding of harmonic invention - all in the name of groove and swing, of course. This date, recorded on a single day in June of 1965, netted four Mobley originals as well as two covers. The band included trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Larry Ridley, and drummer Billy Higgins. The two-horn front line always served Mobley well. Here, with Morgan, the groove commences from the first notes of the title cut that opens the set. The short bluesy lines burst from the horns, and are turned inside out with elegant yet knotty lines that move the tune almost into pop territory but never venture far from the blues…

For what would be his final of over 20 Blue Note albums, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley uses a sextet that also includes trumpeter Woody Shaw, the obscure guitarist Eddie Diehl, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Mickey Bass, and drummer Leroy Williams for a typically challenging set of advanced hard bop music. For the first and only time in his career, Mobley recorded a "Suite" (consisting of "Thinking of Home," "The Flight," and "Home at Last"); the remainder of the set has three of his other attractive originals plus Mickey Bass' "Gayle's Groove." This music was not released for the first time until 1980. It is only fitting that Hank Mobley would record one of the last worthwhile Blue Note albums before its artistic collapse (it would not be revived until the 1980s) for his consistent output helped define the label's sound in the 1960s. Mobley's excellent playing and the adventurous solos of Woody Shaw make this LP (his last as a leader) one to hunt for.

Why any critic would think that Hank Mobley was at the end of his creative spark in 1963 - a commonly if stupidly held view among the eggheads who do this for a living - is ridiculous, as this fine session proves. By 1963, Mobley had undergone a transformation of tone. Replacing the scintillating airiness of his late-'50s sides was a harder, more strident, almost honking one, due in part to the influence of John Coltrane and in part to Mobley's deeper concentration on the expressing blues feeling in his trademark hard bop tunes. The CD version of this album sets the record straight, dropping some tunes form a session months earlier and replacing them with alternate takes of the title cut and "Carolyn" for historical integrity, as well as adding "Syrup and Biscuits" and "Comin' Back"…

Why any critic would think that Hank Mobley was at the end of his creative spark in 1963 - a commonly if stupidly held view among the eggheads who do this for a living - is ridiculous, as this fine session proves. By 1963, Mobley had undergone a transformation of tone. Replacing the scintillating airiness of his late-'50s sides was a harder, more strident, almost honking one, due in part to the influence of John Coltrane and in part to Mobley's deeper concentration on the expressing blues feeling in his trademark hard bop tunes. The CD version of this album sets the record straight, dropping some tunes form a session months earlier and replacing them with alternate takes of the title cut and "Carolyn" for historical integrity, as well as adding "Syrup and Biscuits" and "Comin' Back"…

Hank Mobley was a perfect artist for Blue Note in the 1960s. A distinctive but not dominant soloist, Mobley was also a very talented writer whose compositions avoided the predictable yet could often be quite melodic and soulful; his tricky originals consistently inspired the young all-stars in Blue Note's stable. For this CD, which is a straight reissue of a 1965 session, Mobley is joined by trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Bob Cranshaw, and drummer Billy Higgins (a typically remarkable Blue Note lineup) for the infectious title cut, three other lesser-known but superior originals, plus Wayne Shorter's "Venus Di Mildew." Recommended.

Of all the Blue Note artists of the 1960s, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley may very well be the most underrated. A consistent player whose style evolved throughout the decade, Mobley wrote a series of inventive and challenging compositions that inspired the all-stars he used on his recordings while remaining in the genre of hard bop. For this lesser-known outing, Mobley teams up with trumpeter Donald Byrd, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Billy Higgins for four of his songs (given such colorful titles as "A Dab of This and That," "No Argument," "The Hippity Hop," and "Bossa for Baby"), along with a song apiece from Byrd and Jimmy Heath. An excellent outing, fairly late in the productive career of Hank Mobley.