LT-1045

Hank Mobley - Thinking Of Home

Released - 1980

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, July 31, 1970
Woody Shaw, trumpet; Hank Mobley, tenor sax; Cedar Walton, piano; Eddie Diehl, guitar; Mickey Bass, bass; Leroy Williams, drums.

6734 tk.6 You Gotta Hit It
6735 tk.8 Justine
6738 tk.10 Gayle's Groove
6736 tk.18 Talk About Gittin' It
6737 tk.23 Suite: Thinking Of Home / The Flight / Home At Last

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Suite - A. Thinking Of Home B. The Flight C. Home At Last	Hank Mobley	July 31 1970
Justine	Hank Mobley	July 31 1970
Side Two
You Gotta Hit It	Hank Mobley	July 31 1970
Gayle's Groove	Mickey Bass	July 31 1970
Talk About Gittin' It	Hank Mobley	July 31 1970

Liner Notes

HANK MOBLEY: SMOKER OF THE PIPE

"There is rarely a creative man who does not have to pay a high price for the divine spark of his gifts... the human element is often bled for the benefit of the creative element, and to such an extent that it even brings out the bad qualities, as for instance, ruthless, naive egoism, vanity, all kinds of vices; and all this in order to bring to the human at least some life-strength, since otherwise it would perish of sheer inanition.

- Carl Gustav Jung (Psychology and Poetry June, 1930)

For the past century, there has been no more personal, passionately expressive, intensively idiomatic, or consistently creative artistic expression in this country other than the music we call jazz, or Black Classical Music, or New Music. Whatever the terminology used to verbally describe this music, it is precisely the uncategorizable nature of this art form that is the source of both its greatest and most enduring strengths and its most limiting and fragile weaknesses.

In 1980, the fact that this music still only reaches a relatively limited audience owes a lot less to the "limited sensibilities" of the masses than to the limited number of people on this planet who are willing and able to promote this music and significantly widen its audience. A music that demands such passion, intelligence and commitment to produce can only be effectively communicated to a "mass" audience by people with a commensurate amount of sustained dedication. The sad reality is that there have been, for whatever reasons, very, very few people who have the ability and position to "mass merchandise" this music in any kind of effective and lasting way.

Why else would the music of Henry "Hank" Mobley, one of the most important and eloquent American jazz instrumentalists and composers of the past several decades be such a little known cultural treasure in his own country? Cofounder of the Jazz Messengers with Art Blakey, integral member of the music-making groups led by Max Roach, Horace Silver and Miles Davis the legendary saxophonist Hank Mobley today is in need of a "decent saxophone" so he won't "blow one of his lungs out." In America, an average, licensed doctor, lawyer or plumber with a little effort is almost guaranteed of making a good living, but a well-trained, even great, jazz musician just might have an awfully hard time finding any kind of satisfying - much less remunerative - work. And in the jazz world, a great, unique tenor saxophonist like Hank Mobley suffers considerable neglect because he is not as "spectacular" as three of the most influential tenormen of his day - John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Johnny Griffin.

"Hank Mobley is one of the most ingenious and constantly fresh composers in modern jazz," pianist Cedar Walton has stated, and the music of this album fully supports that assertion. "Thinking Of Home" opens with a deeply peaceful minor rubato interlude that evokes Mobley's early childhood exposure to church music in Newark, New Jersey. The tune quickly jumps over to Manhattan for some straight-ahead bebop. The brisk 16-bar head features a recurring, ten-note staccato theme stated in unison by the two horns. Trumpeter Woody Shaw's soaring, Gatling-gun solo on this tune (and his playing on the entire album) is among his best early recorded efforts; an unmistakable spark that Mr. Shaw was to develop into one of the most fiery and consistently creative jazz instrumental talents of his generation over the next decade. After steamy solos by Mobley and Walton, and a brief restatement of the bebop theme, Hank's thoughts of home suddenly segue "way down South" to a dreamy bossa nova theme gently explored by both the saxophonist and guitarist Eddie Diehl. (Before becoming a full-time guitar repairman and teacher, Diehl followed Grant Green and preceded George Benson and Pat Martino in organist Brother Jack McDuff's Hot House School for Great Guitarists.)

"Justine" is a bright, lilting Mobley original which has an interesting three-part structure. The first two eight-bar sections have the same chord changes with different melodies interpolated through them. The short, sustained phrases of the bridge are more of a gentle cry than a shout chorus. Cedar Walton's exquisitely tasty accompaniment on this song and throughout the album is a case study in how to swing and keep things interestingly moving at any tempo or in any climate. On this tune, the flowing syncopations of Diehl, bassist Mickey Bass, and drummer Leroy Williams could not be more sensitive or swinging either.

"You Gotta Hit It" is a rapid gallop through Hard-Bop Country climaxed by an exchange of fiery fours by Mobley and Shaw, punctuated by the tempo tantrums of drummer Williams. Mickey Bass's composition "Gayle's Groove" is a medium, blues-flavored theme featuring some particularly compelling and coherent solo work by both Walton and Mobley.

Longtime "roads" scholar of the saxophone, Dexter Gordon, recently talked about Hank Mobley: "Hank is definitely the 'middleweight champ' of the tenor. And that's meant to be as high an estimation as I can make of his playing... and it doesn't imply any limitation in his talent whatsoever. With that round sound and medium tone, he plays as hip as any tenor player around."

One of Mobley's closest personal friends, drummer Philly Joe Jones, still maintains almost daily contact with Hank. Philly Joe feels very strongly that Mr. Mobley is "one of the messiahs, one of the true geniuses of the saxophone, one of the real smokers of the pipe."

Whether or not he is a messiah or genius of the saxophone, Hank Mobley plays his horn with as much human warmth and personally articulated eloquence as it has never been played.

- Todd Barkan

Notes for the 2012 CD Edition

This album is important not just because it was Hank Mobley's last session on the label that he had called home for 15 years, but because the focus of his talent as a composer shares the spotlight with his powerful gifts as a master improviser on the tenor saxophone.  

He wrote all but one composition on the album, but it is the title suite that grabs our attention and lets us know what a thoughtful and fresh composer Mobley was. He'd had his share of jazz classics over the years that were covered by other artists, but "Thinking Of Home" offers a more ambitious composer.  

The band on his final Blue Note session features fellow Newark musician Woody Shaw (who'd appeared on his "Reach Out" a few years earlier) and Cedar Walton who'd recorded with Mobley countless times. Mickey Bass, who had been with Lee Morgan, and Leroy Williams, drummer for John Patton at the time, were new to Mobley's music.  
 
- Michael Cuscuna