Hank Mobley

[Soulstation1]

I think the only HM BN I'm missing is a caddy for daddy

[mjzee]

My favorite is still Workout, for the great contributions by Grant Green. I think I have all of the BNs, the 2 Prestiges, one of the Savoys.

[king ubu]

My favourite is still "Soul Station" - but then I love many of the fifties BN dates including the very first quartet 10" album, which is kind of the Jazz Messengers featuring Mobley ... the Jazz Messengers material is brilliant, too, both the Silver as well as the Café Bohemia - some of my favourite music! And the re-union is terrific as well, with Lee Morgan and Hank Mobley - I totally love the groove they get into on "Chicken an' Dumplins"!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Underrecorded artists are underrecorded because their records tend not to make money. Hank, although he never had a hit record, must have made a fair bit for BN. Don't forget, BN projects broke even on 2,500 sales. Someone who wasn't doing even that well was really not commanding an audience.

MG

No doubt. My comment was based entirely on an utterly absurd hypothetical scenario where Lion was a philanthropist was constrained in time and recording costs, but indifferent to album sales.

MG

[Milestones]

^{Clearly there is something about Mobley's sound. I was listening to Pandora and a track came on from a Sonny Clark album. Mobley was on it, though I didn't know that. But as the tenor solo started up, I thought, "That's sound like Mobley." Sure enough, it was!}

[Brad]

My first Mosaic and a great one. Get all his stuff although his last BN album wasn't that good.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I think the only HM BN I'm missing is a caddy for daddy

:o :o

This is something you should rectify quickly!

[BluesLibrarian]

There's an interesting biography of Mobley available - Workout: The Life and Music of Hank Mobley.

[Larry Kart]

There's an interesting biography of Mobley available - Workout: The Life and Music of Hank Mobley.

Description of the book at that link is a bit odd:

"Jackie McLean (1931-2006) was one of the finest alto players and a legend of jazz. This book looks at the man and his work, his influences, and why his records have such enduring value."

[sidewinder]

There's an interesting biography of Mobley available - Workout: The Life and Music of Hank Mobley.

Description of the book at that link is a bit odd:

"Jackie McLean (1931-2006) was one of the finest alto players and a legend of jazz. This book looks at the man and his work, his influences, and why his records have such enduring value."

Same author (Derek Amsell) for the Northway bios of McLean and Mobley.

[gmonahan]

IIRC

roll call was my first mobley cd

Mine too.

[BluesLibrarian]

There's an interesting biography of Mobley available - Workout: The Life and Music of Hank Mobley.

Description of the book at that link is a bit odd:

"Jackie McLean (1931-2006) was one of the finest alto players and a legend of jazz. This book looks at the man and his work, his influences, and why his records have such enduring value."

Same author (Derek Amsell) for the Northway bios of McLean and Mobley.

Yes, I think this publisher has a series, there was a Lee Morgan one a while back as well.

[danasgoodstuff]

Caddy for Daddy was my first, love 'em all, almost - including Reach Out, except the last one on Cobblestone.

[Guy Berger]

I think the only HM BN I'm missing is a caddy for daddy

:o :o

This is something you should rectify quickly!

I like this one too.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i think my 1st was hi voltage

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

1st sideman date prior to that- KD whistle stop

Edited June 29, 2013 by chewy

[Bluesnik]

Get the Mosaic. A fantastic set.

Yes, I agree wit that. What I listen to most of Mobley are his fifties BN sessions, collected on that Mosaic, and his early sixties "comeback" sessions, like Soul Station and Roll Call. And, of course the wonderful No room for Squares.

[CJ Shearn]

It is a great set. This is making me think I should hold onto my set I put up for sale for whenever the urge strikes to listen.

Edited June 29, 2013 by CJ Shearn

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Caddy for Daddy was my first, love 'em all, almost - including Reach Out, except the last one on Cobblestone.

I like that Cobblestone one. There's some very nice unaccompanied solo stuff somewhere in there, if I remember it right.

MG

[CJ Shearn]

Mobley's tone, I only heard a few tunes from "Breakthrough", got so so dark then, almost baritone like.

[danasgoodstuff]

Caddy for Daddy was my first, love 'em all, almost - including Reach Out, except the last one on Cobblestone.

I like that Cobblestone one. There's some very nice unaccompanied solo stuff somewhere in there, if I remember it right.

MG

I haven't heard it in a long time, so I might change my mind, but IIRC 'trying too hard' to do something different was my initial reaction...

[J.A.W.]

Caddy for Daddy was my first, love 'em all, almost - including Reach Out, except the last one on Cobblestone.

I like that Cobblestone one. There's some very nice unaccompanied solo stuff somewhere in there, if I remember it right.

MG

I haven't heard it in a long time, so I might change my mind, but IIRC 'trying too hard' to do something different was my initial reaction...

Haven't heard Breakthrough! in years, but I remember not liking it all those years ago.

Edited June 29, 2013 by J.A.W.

[JSngry]

Breakthrough is the bloodiest music Hank ever made, imo...talk about walking a tightrope without a net..and into a gale-force headwind at that...and yet not once does he stagger, stumble, or fall. It ain't pretty, but it sure is beautiful.

For everything else, there's Dippin'.

And for everything else, there's everything else!

[robertoart]

He's a punchy heavyweight on Breakthrough.

You can hear the whole album on Spotify.

Difficult pleasure.

[mjzee]

Let me put in a good word for the 3 albums released in the LT series: A Slice Of The Top, Third Season, and Thinking Of Home. I think of these as "of a piece": sophisticated arrangements, great tunes, and interesting instrumentation. Some surprising musicians pop up: Woody Shaw, Sonny Greenwich, Eddie Diehl. These sessions also have a "polish" to them. Hank is great, as usual.