Hank Mobley - Eight Classic Albums (4CD, 2011)

Four CD set containing eight albums from the Jazz legend. Includes the albums Hank Mobley Quartet, Tenor Conclave, Hank Mobley All Stars, Hank, Hank Mobley Quintet, Hank Mobley Sextet, Soul Station and Roll Call.

With no disrespect toward Hawk, Bean, Prez, Trane, Rollins, Getz, Shorter, Henderson, Dexter and Brecker, Hank Mobley is the tenor player I listen to more than any other (were Sonny Stitt exclusively a tenor player, his recordings would be a close second, with Harold Land, Charlie Rouse, Oliver Nelson and Paul Gonsalves in the 3rd spot). Mobley doesn't so much "impress" as "seduce" the listener with ceaselessly melodic, lyrical, soulful inventions each time out. He was no "innovator" or trailblazer. Nor, like so many "showier" tenors, did he introduce "artifacts" into his sound–wobbles, growls, squeals and screeches, etc., approaches as common during the '30s and '40s as in the adventurous experimentation of modal and free players in the '60s and beyond.

Rather, he simply took the chords that were given him and sang his heart out, all the while embodying the history and very soul of this African-American art form. Of all tenor players, he "wears" the best, perhaps because he's so human, so sympathetic, so personal. If his ideas are "understated" compared to those of his more dramatic, sensational, trendsetting, head-turning peers, that disarming quality is key to his appeal, which for the past 40 or more years, has never lessened for this listener. Unlike Bird and Coltrane, Hank can't be considered one of the "seminal" greats: he's not one of the 5-6 jazz "immortals." But for this listener no one personifies what the music is all about better than the always welcome, unobtrusive yet inimitable, voice of Mobs.

Mobley is heard at his best for the ten years between 1955 and 1965 (his decline, due to personal as well as marketplace factors, is at once precipitous and painful to experience. The last time I caught him live–in the '70s–he was incapable of physical composure let alone constructing a musical solo). The present collection–a new approach to winning listeners back to CDs, giving them 8 for the price of one–is a better representation than that of some of the other artists to receive the same value packaging (e.g. Kenny Dorham) . It includes perhaps his two most essential albums under his own name–critically acclaimed sessions like "Soul Station" and "Roll Call" and mostly-overlooked dates like the 4-tenor blowing session featuring Mobley with Coltrane, Al Cohn and Zoot Sims (Mobley's show-stopping solo and cadenza on "How Deep Is the Ocean" helps compensate for the recorded moment on Miles' "Someday My Prince Will Come," on Columbia, when he was blindsided and virtually humiliated by Coltrane).

Some essential Mobley dates are missing–including "Work Out" and "Another Work Out." And, of course, some of Mobley's very best playing (about half of my Mobley collection) is on recordings under the leadership of another musician–usually Art Blakey or Horace Silver. Finally, my very favorite Mobley solo is not on a Blue Note or Prestige album but a two-disc Miles Davis session on Columbia: "Friday and Saturday Night at the Blackhawk." Following Miles' two laconic, low-key choruses on "Bye Bye Blackbird" Mobley simply pours his heart out for four 32-bar choruses, each more inventive, lyrical and passionate than the preceding one. A desert-island solo if there ever was one.

But there's no possibility of getting too much of Mobley (at least before 1966), which makes this a package that's easy to greet with a high-five, whether for the newbie or the Mobley convert who has the above "missing" albums and wishes to complete a Mobley collection while saving shelf-space and quite a few bucks.


Tracks:

[Disc 1]
Hank Mobley Quartet (1955)
01 Hank's Prank 4.27
02 My Sin 3.46
03 Avila and Tequila 4.28
04 Walkin' the Fence 3.37
05 Love for Sale 4.29
06 Just Coolin' 4.07

Tenor Conclave (1956)
07 Tenor Conclave 11.02
08 Just You, Just Me 9.26
09 Bob's Boy's 8.17
10 How Deep is the Ocean 15.03

[Disc 2]
Hank Mobley And His All Stars (1957)
01 Reunion 6.55
02 Ultra Marine 10.36
03 Don't Walk 7.48
04 Lower Stratosphere 6.37
05 Mobley's Musing's 6.02

Hank (1957)
06 Fit for a Hanker 7.18
07 Hi Groove, Low Feedback 9.51
08 You'd Be So Easy to Love 5.36
09 Time After Time 6.45
10 Dance of the Infidels 7.51

[Disc 3]
Hank Mobley Quintet (1957)
01 Funk in Deep Freeze 6.46
02 Wham and They're off 7.40
03 Fin De L'affaire 6.35
04 Startin' from Scratch 6.39
05 Stella Wise 7.15
06 Base on Balls 7.21

Hank Mobley Sextet (1957)
07 Touch and Go 9.13
08 Double Whammy 8.08
09 Barrel of Funk 11.17
10 Mobley Mania 8.26

[Disc 4]
Soul Station (1960)
01 Remember 5.37
02 This I Dig of You 6.21
03 Dig Dis 6.04
04 Split Feelin's 4.45
05 Soul Station 9.02
06 If I Should Lose You 5.05

Roll Call (1960)
07 Roll Call 10.29
08 My Groove Your Move 6.03
09 Take Your Pick 5.23
10 A Baptist Beat 8.51
11 The More I See You 6.45
12 The Breakdown 4.54