BLP 1560

Hank Mobley Sextet - Hank

Released - October 1957

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, April 21, 1957
Donald Byrd, trumpet; John Jenkins, alto sax; Hank Mobley, tenor sax; Bobby Timmons, piano; Wilbur Ware, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums.

tk.2 Easy To Love
tk.3 Fit For A Hanker
tk.4 Hi Groove, Low Feedback
tk.7 Time After Time
tk.9 Dance Of The Infidels

Session Photos

Photos: Francis Wolff/Mosaic Images / 
https://www.mosaicrecordsimages.com/

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Fit for a Hanker	Hank Mobley	21/04/1957
Hi Groove, Low Feedback	Hank Mobley	21/04/1957
Side Two
You'd Be So Easy To Love	Cole Porter	21/04/1957
Time After Time	Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne	21/04/1957
Dance of the Infidels	Bud Powell	21/04/1957

Credits

Cover Photo:
Cover Design:	TOM HANNAN
Engineer:	RUDY VAN GELDER
Producer:	ALFRED LION
Liner Notes:	IRA GITLER

Liner Notes

THERE are sessions and then there are sessions. What is needed to make a session successful? Empathetic musicians? Musicians who have the urge to really play rather than go the motions? Material which will make them want to play? An inspiring rhythm section to lift the soloists? The answer to these rhetorical questions is emphatically "yes" and a living, breathing example of a session of this sort can be found here, between these covers. as another in the line of excellent Blue Note blowing sessions.

The empathetic musicians have come from many different cities in the United States to help comprise the fine modern jazz player pool that exists in New York.

Hank Mobley from Newark and Donald Byrd from Detroit have played and recorded together quite a few times in the past two years. They were the front line of the Jazz Messengers for part of 1956 and can be heard in Horace Silver's Six Pieces Of Silver (Blue Note BLP 1539).

'"Hankus," the leader of this date, has reached the stage in his career where he has become a steady performer — a real pro, so to speak. In addition to his full-bodied playing here, he has also penned two of the lines and expertly chosen the other three selections.

Donald has also improved by leaps and bounds to a new level of maturity. He is at his sharpest in this set with a singing, soaring style which is a personal expression within the Clifford Brown vein.

You have probably never heard of the alto saxophonist unless you are from Chicago. I had heard about him when I wrote in the January issue of Jazz Today, "words of praise were blown in for alto John Jenkins although he had not recorded."

John Jenkins has recorded now, as of this LP, and proves himself to be in the first generation after Charlie Parker and a particularly virile exponent of the style.

The young pianist from Philadelphia, Bobby Timmons, whose playing Leonard Feather accurately described in Kenny Dorham's, 'Round About Midnight At The Cafe Bohemia (Blue Note LP BLP 1524) as reflecting "the intelligent absorption of a variety of modern influences rapidly evolving a style of his own," is in fine form and certainly closer to a personal expression than before.

In the rhythm section Bobby combines with the two rocks who so effectively swung the proceedings during J.R. Monterose's first date as a leader (Blue Note BLP 1536), "Philly" Joe Jones and Wilbur Ware. Her they again achieve that inspiration that I spoke of earlier.

Jones, from Philadelphia of course, is best know for his work with the great Miles Davis quintet of 1956-57.

Ware, who left his native Chicago to come East with the Jazz Messengers, has been free-lancing around New York during 1957 and has impressed everyone with his all-around capability.

The medium-up Fit For A Hanker and medium Hi Groove, Low Feed-Back are uncomplicated yet effective lines by leader Mobley.

Easy To Love is taken at up tempo with everyone cruising along comfortably on the crest of the steady rhythmic wave laid down by Jones, Ware and Timmons.

Tine After Time, an extremely lovely ballad of the Forties, is revived here in a heartfelt version which shows that all the hornmen can play pretty as well as swing hard.

The set closer is Dance Of The Infidels, an original by Bud Powell which can also be heard in its original versions as played by its composer in The Amazing Bud Powell (Blue Note BLP 1503) and The Fabulous Fats Navarro (Blue Note BLP 1532).

The ingredients for a successful session are all here; the empathy, the pulse and the varied, interesting material. The results are self-evident in the happy listening.

-IRA GITLER

Cover Design by TOM HANNAN
Photos by FRANCIS WOLFF
Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER