Hardbopjazz Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 How good is this? Is it worth picking up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Opinions tend to vary on this one. I like it very much myself, but be forwarned that Hank doesn't play on every cut. Sits out on 2. and on a third, his solo is relatively short. as per the arrangement. However, on the 3 that he DOES stretch out on...memerizing. Not pretty, necessarily, but emotionally gripping in the extreme. His "last gasp", so to speak, at least as a fully functional player, and pretty darn bloody in terms of the story he's telling. But that's just me. Like I say, opinions tend to vary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardbopjazz Posted March 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Yeah, he was pretty much done by then. Sad but true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 NO! Not done, just walking the tightrope like you'll not hear anywhere else, at least on "official" recordings. Soon he would fall, yes. But here, he stays on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Jim and I are of a mind on this. This is definitely worth picking up. It's good Hank but hurting I would say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 People tell stories of Keiko Jones holding Elvin up so he could play on his last tour. When I hear Hank's playing on this date, I wish I could reach through my speakers and hold him up. He sounds so much like he's just holding on that I get heartbroken hearing him like this. He does go to town on "Summertime" and maybe sounds like the old Hank in bits. I would say "not essential", but you do get the added bonus of some killer Charles Davis. Davis makes the date worthwhile for me. You know as weak as Hank sounds on this, the trio cover of "Theme From Love Story" with Walton on electric piano is weaker. Later, Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Cedar plays accoustic on "Love Story" (which I kinda dig in this arrangement - nice groove changes, and superbly recorded Sam & Billy to boot), but is on electric on two other tunes, I think ("Sabia" & the "House" one). Agreed, however, on Charles Davis here. I still go to this one for Hank above all, but Davis is great throughout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noj Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 He does go to town on "Summertime" and maybe sounds like the old Hank in bits. This is one of my all-time favorite versions of Summertime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 (edited) Cedar plays accoustic on "Love Story" (which I kinda dig in this arrangement - nice groove changes, and superbly recorded Sam & Billy to boot), but is on electric on two other tunes, I think ("Sabia" & the "House" one). Agreed, however, on Charles Davis here. I still go to this one for Hank above all, but Davis is great throughout. Ahh, that's right. It is acoustic on "Love Story"... but still, it is "Love Story"... I gack every time I play this. I usually hit the skip button pretty quick. It might have something to do with the fact that I've actually seen "Love Story". Later, Kevin Edited March 4, 2005 by Kevin Bresnahan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Not for me unfortunately. But if you like Mobley I guess it's one you have to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 I have most of this one on the OOP Camden Cedar Walton 2CD set. I've always liked it - second the comment about Hank's playing. He's putting 120% in there, the ideas and sense of purpose are first rate but the lungs are right at their limit. 'On the edge' sums it up pretty well - not the greatest Mobley perhaps but some of the most fascinating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave James Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Agree with Kevin 100% on his assessment. It's not quite as bad as listening to Lester Young when he was ready to go EOT, but it's close. When there's all that great Hank from the 50's and 60's, I just never saw any point in spending any time with this one. Up over and out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j lee Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 If you dig the tune "Breakthrough" as much as I do, and Sam Jones's playing in general -- his playing litters this album in a glorious fashion -- it's worth picking up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornelius Posted March 5, 2005 Report Share Posted March 5, 2005 It's lousy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 Jim nailed it on the head, as usual! My take? If you're a Mobley nut..you probably already own it...if you're becoming a Mobley nut...you'll kick yourself in the head if you don't get it...if you're a casual Mobley listener...you can most likely live without it... Hardbop, you won't like it. It was recorded in the 70's, there's electric piano on a couple tracks.... Damn, think I'm going to pull this one out and listen to it now..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 Hardbop, you won't like it. It was recorded in the 70's, there's electric piano on a couple tracks.... Shawn, that's not Hardbop Chris Heaney. Different hardbop, and I don't think he's expressed a huge distaste of electric instruments. So there's no reason to assume he'd hate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornelius Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 "If you're a Mobley nut..you probably already own it...if you're becoming a Mobley nut...you'll kick yourself in the head if you don't get it...if you're a casual Mobley listener...you can most likely live without it..." [shawn] If I didn't need it for reference, this Mobley nut would have no reason to keep it. Most of all, I'd hate to think of anyone getting this as their first Mobley record and thinking that this is what Mobley is all about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 Oops!!!!! Didn't know it was a different person! Yikes! SORRY! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 I'd hate to think of anyone getting this as their first Mobley record and thinking that this is what Mobley is all about. In a way, listening backwards, this IS what Hank was all about. The clues were there all along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 This one was my first encounter with Mobley, IIRC, and it didn't keep me from diggin' deep into his discography. I still have the Cobblestone LP. Not so bad at all, and not "lousy" at all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornelius Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 (edited) JSngry, what clues do you hear in, say, the Horace Silver And The Jazz Messengers sessions or, say, Hank Mobley Quartet that suggest the way Mobley plays on Breakthrough? Getting back to Dippin', it's not a bad album and it does not disservice Mobley, but there is so much richer Mobley in so many earlier sessions. When we get to Breakthrough, though, for whatever passion and pathos we find there, he sounds desperate to sound different from himself. Like he wants to be full-fledged member of the club of really hard toned tenors. But that's just not him. True, his sound got a little harder (or at least, less "feathery") when he came back in '63 or right after that, and progressively harder through the mid and late '60s. And the result is okay, even if not as beautiful as '50s and early '60s Mobley. But with Breakthrough the makeover has gone really bad. Edited March 6, 2005 by Cornelius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ariceffron Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 dont give us that bullshit cornelious many swear by Dippin' and think its hanks best achievment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornelius Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 Come on, Aric, you damn well know that Roll Call is Mobley's best album. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 JSngry, what clues do you hear in, say, the Horace Silver And The Jazz Messengers sessions or, say, Hank Mobley Quartet that suggest the way Mobley plays on Breakthrough? Passive-agressiveness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornelius Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 (edited) Do you mean Hank Mobley's playing evinces passive-aggressiveness or that my question does? Edited March 6, 2005 by Cornelius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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