BST 84329

Hank Mobley - The Flip

Released - June 1970

Recording and Session Information

Barclay Studios, Paris, France, July 12, 1969
Dizzy Reece, trumpet; Slide Hampton, trombone; Hank Mobley, tenor sax; Vince Benedetti, piano; Alby Cullaz, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums.

4804 tk.5 Early Morning Stroll
4805 tk.12 18th Hole
4806 tk.18 Feelin' Folksy
4807 tk.24 Snappin' Out
4808 tk.26 The Flip

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
The Flip	Hank Mobley	July 12 1969
Feelin' Folksy	Hank Mobley	July 12 1969
Side Two
Snappin' Out	Hank Mobley	July 12 1969
18th Hole	Hank Mobley	July 12 1969
Early Morning Stroll	Hank Mobley	July 12 1969

Liner Notes

I once remarked facetiously, in a liner to an earlier LP, that Hank Mobley shows up at Blue Note almost as regularly as the mailman. That comment should now be amended to read that it would be comforting (and most surprising) if the U.S mails were as dependable, performance-wise, as Hank Mobley.

Hank’s career as a Blue Note leader began in the late 1950s. For more than a decade he has appeared in a series of settings that varied greatly in personnel but were consistent in one factor the quality of his contribution as an authoritative, emotionally affecting jazzman whose conception has continued to grow.

In the late 1950s and early ‘60s Hank free-lanced around town, worked for a while with Thelonious Monk and later Miles Davis, and became increasingly well known through his Blue Note sessions, not only as a-soloist but as a composer of ingratiating, personal melodic lines.

Having lived in California since 1960 I had kept in touch with Mobley chiefly ‘via records. Then one night in November of 1968 I was sitting with friends in a Paris night club, during a trans-Continental jazz concert tour with which I was tagging along, when Hank walked in. After sitting in with the resident combo, playing with more assurance and conviction than ever, he told me that he had been in Europe since the previous March, when an offer to play Ronnie Scott’s club in London led to a series of engagements in several other countries.

That was the last time I saw Mobley, and that, in a sense, is what this session is about: expatriation, and the consequent ease with which a first class album may now be produced in Europe with a predominantly American personnel. All but one of the six jazzmen heard on these sides are U.S-born soloists, who now spend much or all of their time overseas.

Among this distinguished gaIIery it is a particular pleasure to find Alphonso Son Reece, who might be characterized as a triple expatriate. Dizzy, whose nickname was not inspired by Gillespie (the latter was unknown to him during his high school days in Kingston, Jamaica), migrated to Europe in 1948, settling in London in 1954, and spent better than a decade gigging around: Britain and the Continent. Coincidentally, his first album for Blue Note, released in 1959, was cut in Paris. But Dizzy arrived in America in October of that year to settle down as part of the New York jazz community. In recent years the wheel has come half-circle as he has spent much of his time on the far side of the English Channel. Dizzy has always swung, always heard the changes well and played with a fine sense of dramatic and dynamic contrast.

Slide Hampton, born in Pennsylvania and raised in Indianapolis, played with Buddy Johnson and Lionel Hampton (no relation) before coming to prominence in 1957-9 as a soloist and chief arranger for the Maynard Ferguson orchestra. He later formed an interesting octet, which for a hot minute in 1960 had the distinction of being managed by that man of many careers, Artie Shaw. Alas, that didn’t help; the group broke up, and Slide took to such varied jobs as musical director for Lloyd Price, arranger for various groups, and occasional leader of his own small combos. One can easily speculate on why he has been spending a great deal of his time across the Atlantic for the past couple of years. The opportunities to do one’s own thing, to play and write jazz without conceding artistically to anyone, seem quite substantial, particularly in Paris.

We seem to have lost Philly Joe Jones for good, as far as the domestic scene is concerned — our loss, Europe’s gain, and a particular source of stimulation for any Parisian, or Londoner lucky enough to snare him for a rhythm section. Philly’s association with Miles Davis off and on from 1952-62 will not be forgotten. He was and is a master of cross rhythms, a demon with bass drum accents, employer of the most unbelievable subtleties on snare sand cymbals.

The name of Vince Benedetti may be unfamiliar, since he was only 23 when, in 1964, he left for Europe, originally to work with Pony Poindexter. Born in Hoboken, N.J. and raised in Teaneck, N.J., he attended Ithaca, N.Y. College on a scholarship for trombone, but soon established himself as a pianist. He has worked with Johnny Griffin, Kenny Clarke, Booker Ervin, Buck Clayton and Art Taylor. At the time of this Mobley date he had a trio at the Living Room in Paris.

Completing the company is one musician to whom Paris is more than an adopted home. Bassist A!by Cullaz is the son of Maurice Cullaz, the prominent French disc jockey, writer and jazz enthusiast.

A suspenseful piano vamp introduces The Flip, a blues-flavored theme, structured 8-8-16-8, with a very basic three-note pattern for the eights. Hank’s work here, never flashy or spectacular, moves along with the natural, sweeping lyricism that has always been a part o him. Reece and Hampton sustain the mood; note the sensitive backing provided by Benedetti, especially during Slide’s solo.

Feelin’ Folksy is a minor but somehow jaunty tune that suggests a stroll along a boulevard in spring. Philly Joe’s punctuations are a vital component throughout.

Snappin’ Out demonstrates how well Mobley can construct a simple, sinuous melody line. After the drum introduction and piano vamp, you’ll hear a theme that could be Braziian, such is its coloration and the loping rhythmic gait of the interpretation. Slide Hampton’s technique and pacing remind us of his often underrated value as a soloist.

18th Hole again shows Hank’s compositional power. The pretty changes in the second eight-bar stanza lend this.tune a light, singing quality. After a bristling voyage of discovery by Dizzy, Hank takes over, with urgent support from Philly. Slide’s interlude reminds us that those J.J. roots. have not been forgotten. Benedetti, in a cooking solo, seems to be pretty much his own man.

Early Morning Stroll, the last of these five beguiling Mobley originals, conjured up (for me) visions of the Champs Elysees at dawn. It’s an easy-going major melody with percussive alternations by Philly Joe and charming restatements of the main phrase in F and G Flat before the intriguingly contrasted release built around an E Minor. This track, it seems to me, has the most gripping and modern-oriented Mobley solo of the entire session. The improvisational level of creativity set by Hank is well maintained by Dizzy, Slide and Vince. Then comes a reprise of the theme and one of those unexpected cutoff endings.

It would be too easy to conclude on a note of regret, by expressing disappointment that we have lost— in some cases temporarily, in others for good— the services on home ground of several priceless talents. It would be more fitting, though, to render thanks to Francis Wolff, through whose initiative we may hear again, an undimmed splendor, sounds that were a happy part of the U.S. jazz scene. If we cannot bring back these talents in the flesh, a substantial consolation may be derived from an LP like this which, in a very real sense, is the next best thing to bringing ‘em back live.

—LEONARD FEATHER