Hank Mobley in The New Yorker

[jazzbo]

"Thinking of Home" has become a real favorite of mine this century. The sense of saudade is there and the performances are really tied strongly to the material and its moods.

[Late]

54 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

The sense of saudade is there and the performances are really tied strongly to the material and its moods.

Well put.

saudade (noun): a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia that is supposedly characteristic of the Portuguese or Brazilian temperament

I've always wondered if the opening suite was inspired, even if indirectly, by Coltrane's use of the suite form. In the first 35 seconds of the album, you can hear shades of both "A Love Supreme" and "Alabama." Some of the melodic intervals Mobley uses parallel Coltrane's.

[JSngry]

Cover matches music like none other. Not Brazilian, though.

[John Tapscott]

I really like Thinking of Home." I don't have the set but my favorite Mobley album from this period is "Far Away Lands."

[Late]

4 hours ago, John Tapscott said:

... my favorite Mobley album from this period is "Far Away Lands."

Listening to it right now!

I think this album contains some of Mobley's best solos. The composition "No Argument" is fine. Donald Byrd is in good form too — sounding very Hubbard-like.

[clifford_thornton]

On 3/26/2020 at 4:03 PM, JSngry said:

Going back to the LT Series, Cuscuna has kept Hank plausibly appreciated for 40+ years. I certainly hope that there is somebody around to carry on that task, and also that there is a cultural  climate that will be receptive to it. "Hip" was never hip, never will be. But hip is forever, hopefully.

Agreed. Same with Tina, no?

[JSngry]

Tina's arc might be declining...what else are they going to do, what now? Make a movie?

[Rooster_Ties]

Funny, reading this thread yesterday, I also thought of Tina (before there was any mention) - whose playing I just love to pieces. ❤️

[Bluesnik]

On 25/03/2020 at 3:32 AM, Joe said:

Richard Brody talking Hank, inspired by Mosaic's new set.

Very nice article...

[mjzee]

I am loving the new Mosaic box.  Gives me a new appreciation of Hank's craft.  This may turn out to be one of my favorite Mosaics.

[Gheorghe]

On 30.3.2020 at 10:32 PM, Joe said:

Damn, Woody Shaw is just killing it on THINKING OF HOME. Hank, meanwhile, sounds particularly inspired by the material he penned for this date.

As you say it, there is also another Album of Hank from early 1968 were Woody Plays great. I have forgotten the title, it´s an Album with Hank in Paris, with the Eiffel Tower in the Background I think. And it has also a Pop tune on it, which was popular at that time. I love that Album.

[sidewinder]

‘Reach Out’ - a couple of pop tune covers on that one, leading off each side.

[Gheorghe]

6 hours ago, sidewinder said:

‘Reach Out’ - a couple of pop tune covers on that one, leading off each side.

Yeah, "Reach Out" is the album. 

[JSngry]

So, I went ahead and responded to a Mosaic E-Mail Proddy-Poke and ordered this thing the other day. Looks like it's not on back order or anything?

I so do not need this set, what's to be had, I already have, and almost all of it on LPs. But hell, the Mobley Mystique is pretty much incurable, it looks like. Once bitten, forever infected.

No complaints.

[jazzbo]

I am sure you will really enjoy this set. Having all these consistently and excellently mastered is a big plus that benefits the appreciation of the music and may even inspire some new insights and ideas.

[JSngry]

2 hours ago, jazzbo said:

I am sure you will really enjoy this set.

I'm not even sure that I am going to listen to it. I just had to buy it because it was Hank. Nothing more complicated than that. A totally Hanklovian response!

[Dan Gould]

Well I pre-ordered, then cancelled in anticipation of tight finances last summer. Don't expect any Hanklovian response to alter that but I have been kind of listening to my own Mobley in the 60s on BN, having pulled all the CDs he led and aligning them in what was my best recollection of chronology. Only I started with the Workout - Soul Station classics.

I think one overlooked aspect of Hank's artistry is his way with a ballad - I Should Care, and The Good Life being particularly huge favorites here.

[JSngry]

6 hours ago, Dan Gould said:

I think one overlooked aspect of Hank's artistry is his way with a ballad - I Should Care, and The Good Life being particularly huge favorites here.

not just playing them, but composing them as well.

The guy has a sense of melodic construction way deeper than "song"...his was the knowing of size, shape, knowing where the entrance and exit points were, and what to do to navigate between them to maximum meaning.

Check out these 16 bars...

16 bars, coulda been on a 78!!!

[Dave James]

Hank is, hands down, my favorite jazz artist. Within his catalog, I'm decidedly partial to the earlier sessions that feature his so-called "round sound."  Some of his later recordings strike me as an attempt to stay current...an agenda that tends to remove the roundness and replaces it with a coarser, more strident sound.  Hank's high point for me will always be "Soul Station".  I can listen to the opening track "Remember" over and over again and never tire of hearing it.  The line-up on that one (Mobley, Kelly, Blakey, and Chambers) reads like a mini-jazz HOF.  That's not to say there aren't some diamonds to be found on the beach of his later work, but that earlier material will always be what I turn to most often.  IMO, as good s it gets.  

Edited April 17, 2020 by Dave James

[danasgoodstuff]

I have my library's copy sitting in my basement, indefinitely since we're not taking returns during the current crisis.  Probably won't buy since it has all of three alternates I don't have already and none of them struck me as better or even all that different (unlike HH's Blind Man where I prefer the alternate).  I'm partial to this era:  I love boogaloos, the instrumentation is more varied, and both the writing and the playing just got better, IMHO.  But all Hank, front to back, leader and sideman is worth hearing.  Slice of the Top is a uniquely beautiful thing, further proof that 1966 is the apex/zenith/___ of human civilization.  The last Studebaker was built on 3/17/66, Slice of the Top was done 3/18 and my wife was born the next week.  And we moved to SK later that year.

[Dan Gould]

On 3/30/2020 at 7:16 PM, jazzbo said:

"Thinking of Home" has become a real favorite of mine this century. The sense of saudade is there and the performances are really tied strongly to the material and its moods.

Just revisited Thinking Of Home - totally agree.  As good as any Hank of any era ...

[jcam_44]

On 4/15/2020 at 1:41 PM, JSngry said:

So, I went ahead and responded to a Mosaic E-Mail Proddy-Poke and ordered this thing the other day. Looks like it's not on back order or anything?

I so do not need this set, what's to be had, I already have, and almost all of it on LPs. But hell, the Mobley Mystique is pretty much incurable, it looks like. Once bitten, forever infected.

No complaints.

Did it actually ship?

[AllenLowe]

I remember there was a night at the Tin Palace, maybe in the '70s? Barry Harris was bringing Mobley in for a night with Barry's trio, IIRC. There were lines around the block. I gave up because of the crowds, but apparently Mobley never made it.

[JSngry]

13 hours ago, jcam_44 said:

Did it actually ship?

It has not yet shipped.

 

[jazzcorner]