SOUL STATION

[Guest youmustbe]

Today, February 7th, is 47 years since everybody's beloved Soul Station was recorded.

I bought it in 61 from Bob Koester's Seymour's Jazz Mart on 439 So. Wabash, Joe Segal being the clerk.

Wandered thru the street just looking at that shiny cover, before I caught the train for back home.

[RDK]

Though I had some other Mobley dating back to the mid-80's, I came late to the Soul Station party. Didn't hear it until the RVG came out. Hard to believe I missed that one, but jazz reissues "back then" weren't what they are today.

[brownie]

RDK, consider yourself lucky to be discovering this now

Edited February 7, 2007 by brownie

[michel1969]

Soul Station starts with : "Remember"

[JohnS]

I wish I'd got back in 61. I had to wait for a Japanese issue in the 70s. Great album.

[mikeweil]

I bought in the early 1980's (?) when French EMI issued a number of Blue Note LPs. Almost wore it out, know it by heart. Mobley was my top favourite saxist after I heard this.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I bought in the early 1980's (?) when French EMI issued a number of Blue Note LPs. Almost wore it out, know it by heart. Mobley was my top favourite saxist after I heard this.

That's when I got my first copy - just got the RVG on Saturday. Booful.

MG

[sal]

Wish I "got" this one, but I don't. I'm by far in the minority.

[jazzhound]

Wish I "got" this one, but I don't. I'm by far in the minority.

I didn't "get it "until I bought an orignal viny pressing. didn't transfer to cd too good I guess.

[marcello]

One of the great song titles ( and songs, for that matter)

This I Dig Of You

Edited February 7, 2007 by marcello

[jeffsjazz]

One of my ALL TIME favs from Mobes !

You gotta' love:

"DIG DIS"

I'M DOWN WID IT !

[JSngry]

It's a classic, but I still prefer Dippin', and by plenty.

[Chuck Nessa]

I think evaluations of recordings depend on when you first heard them.

Folks there at the time trump the others until the fog of "history" sez otherwise.

[Harold_Z]

I think when you hear somebody you dig, you tend to like the first few recordings you hear by them.

[Guest donald petersen]

dippin does it for me more also but i always put that down to a fault with myself to not hear the subtlety and beauty inherent in "soul station" which i am too impatient and hyper to appreciate. i will admire it from afar. but i will admire it and respect it.

[Guest youmustbe]

I suppose what makes Station special for me is that it is a quartet recording, just Hank having to put up or shut up....like the 1955 10" BN with Horace, Watkins and Bu.

Also Station, the way it was recorded, imperceptible bass drum, ...Smooth Jazz!

Great Stuff after all these years.

[Rooster_Ties]

I think when you hear somebody you dig, you tend to like the first few recordings you hear by them.

Yes and no.

For years, the only Hank date I ever owned was the McMaster issue of "No Room for Squares" -- the one with the entire session that includes Andrew Hill. (And NO, I didn't get it cuz Andrew was on it. I just randomly got the date, totally by chance, long before I ever "got" or got into Hill.)

I listened to that full Hill session McMaster version of "No Room for Squares" for years -- and I never really got Hank. That date NEVER made any sense to me, for years, not hardly a bit. So, I just stopped listening to it.

Then, a few years later, I stumbled on "Third Season" -- and, man, I was suddenly hooked!!! And then I picked up "Slice of the Top" - and totally dug that too. Then, one by one, I got a whole bunch more Hank. Suddenly Hank made sense to me.

THEN, after I realized/remembered that Hill was on "No Room for Squares" -- I went back (with my "Hill" ears on), and it suddenly made sense. Not in a "Hank" way, but in a "Hill" way it did.

I won't say it's a Hill album (Andrew doesn't get one writing credit on it), but that "No Room for Squares" session with Hill isn't entirely a "Hank" date in my mind either.

(And I still think "Third Season" is my favorite Hank date. )

Edited February 8, 2007 by Rooster_Ties

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

who arranged THIRD SEASON, hank, or duke pearson?

[Guest youmustbe]

DIPPIN" is terrific, but it's really Lee's date sorta. That was Lee's working band at the time, with Mabern instead of Cedar. Lion didn't seem to care too much for Cedar.

[Soul Stream]

Soul Station's just one of those times when all the stars aligned and the heavens opened up. If my house were burning and I could save just one Hank album, Soul Station would be it (although I might run back in and grab Workout)

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

does anyone recall who arranged 3rd season? i dont have the notes no more...

[brownie]

John Litweiler praises Mobley's 'arranging talents' in his liner notes to 'Third Season'!

[umum_cypher]

DIPPIN" is terrific, but it's really Lee's date sorta. That was Lee's working band at the time, with Mabern instead of Cedar. Lion didn't seem to care too much for Cedar.

Here's a bit of the transcription of the interview I did with Mabern for the Lee book:

TP: Did they [Al Lion et al] get the artists help in an A&R sense, artists’ recommendations, why don’t we get this young musician and bring him into the studio?

HM: Well they were like that, they had certain people that they would want on the dates. They would suggest, why don’t you use this person. Like when I was rehearsing for Hank Mobley’s date Dippin, Lee was on that. So we were at the rehearsal, me and Billy Higgins, Lee, Hank, Larry Ridley, so I was comping. So Lee Morgan, everybody, Lee always loved the way I comped. I think that’s my forte. So Lee was like, Ooh Alfred! Listen to Mabern, the way he’s comping! He said, I want Mabern on my date! He didn’t ask. He told. And Alfred said ja, Alfred had his little scrapbook [mimes note making], he says ja, ja, and the date he was talking about was The Gigolo. Cos Lee loved the way I comped, see he was very supportive of me. And I tell that to young piano players, and the old ones too – your forte is to be an accompanist. Your solo, in a group, that’s personal stuff, but learn how to be an accompanist, learn how to comp, because that’s the stuff that inspired people, like Wynton Kelly.

TP: I’ve always perceived that Lee picked the best accompanists for his band, so Wynton Kelly, Cedar Walton, you, McCoy Tyner. What was it about your support of his solo lines, was it the voicings or the rhythm, cos it’s a very rhythmic comping style you’ve got.

HM: It was a combination of both. Even Freddie Hubbard spoke about that on the liner notes of Blue Spirits, he said that because of the size of my hands I can get voicings that most people can’t. So Freddie spoke about that too, it was a combination of everything. Plus I knew how to, see I loved Wynton Kelly so I knew how to, you know, I think like a spark plug, I comp in a very rhythmic way. McCoy Tyner does too, Herbie. Almost like big band. But you can’t do too much, you’ve got to learn when to do it and when not to. A lot of guys they comp but it’s just bluuum, sustained comp. But the guys I named, we comp in a very rhythmic fashion, like big bands, you know. Accents, no accents, you know. And then inspires, especially if you’ve got a rhythm section where the drummer and the bass player are not hooking up. You need that kind of a piano player who can spark them. Because if you don’t, it’s gonna be, man, it’s gonna be very boring, and it’s not gonna make it.

[Soul Stream]

Tom, thanks for the great unpublished interview! VERY interesting to hear him talk about those times and music in general.

[bertrand]

I noticed that in the section in your book in which Mabern is talking about The Gigolo, he confirms (in a sort of back-handed way) that Wayne Shorter contributed a composition to this record. He obviously is not aware (nor should he be) that 'Trapped' was incorrectly attributed to Lee.

Bertrand.