Jazz Articles about Hank Mobley

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Unsung Recordings by Hank Mobley

by Robert Spencer
February 22, 2004

Our “Unsung Recordings" section is designed to give you a sense of some of the best recordings of an “Unsung Hero." Here are two of Hank Mobley's greatest - and one of his most intriguing:

Soul Station (Blue Note RVG Edition 7243 4 95343 2 2)

Rudy Van Gelder made it sound great in 1960, and he has made it sound even better now. Soul Station is a set of four Mobley originals and two standards ...

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Hank Mobley: The Flip

by Germein Linares
January 17, 2004

Leonard Feather once hailed Hank Mobley as “the middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone." Mobley was better than that. An exquisite soul messenger, Mobley was criticized for not being as aggressive, voluminous, or trailblazing as his contemporaries. Indeed, he was not. Instead, his music was steeped in care, precision and nuances. In Mobley's hands, such treatment often dazzled, as on his latest Blue Note reissue, The Flip.

Recorded in 1969 at Studio Barclay in Paris, this album would be Mobley's ...

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Hank Mobley: Thinking of Home

by Richton Guy Thomas
January 22, 2003

The great jazz critic Leonard Feather once described Hank Mobley as the middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone. Not a name that the novice jazz fan may recognize, Hank Mobley recorded over twenty LPs for Blue Note. Thinking of Home is his last title for Blue Note; released in 1970, this is a fitting farewell session. It features the powerful trumpet playing of Woody Shaw and the exciting pianist Cedar Walton. Hank Mobley's playing has a fire that ...

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Hank Mobley: Thinking of Home

by Robert Gilbert
November 3, 2002

Hank Mobley’s conclusion to his long and storied association with Blue Note Records has finally made it to CD through the label’s Connoisseur series. Thinking of Home, which was recorded on the last day of July in 1970 but not made available until ten years later, shows that the tenor saxophonist was still building on his trademark hard-bop style. A three-part suite that opens the album features Mobley dabbling with long-form composition and “Justine” has him providing a stimulating framework ...

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Hank Mobley: The Complete Blue Note Hank Mobley Fifties Sessions

by C. Andrew Hovan
June 1, 1999

Much has been written lately regarding the unfortunate obscurity of tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley. Now mind you, he left behind a substantial catalog, unlike a Herbie Nichols or Tina Brooks. However, he always seemed to be overshadowed by more overt players, such as Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Time, of course, has a way of rectifying these situations and Mobley has been well represented over the past few years by a string of Blue Note reissues. These discs though have ...

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Kenny Dorham: Whistle Stop

by Robert Spencer
May 1, 1997

If you’re looking for “straight ahead" jazz (in near-perfect form), here it is. Kenny Dorham plays here with the burning rhythm section John Coltrane used on Blue Train : Kenny Drew on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Hank Mobley adds his tenor sax to this 1961 session that features Kenny mining the blues and more in a variety of contexts.

“’Philly’ Twist" is a Parkerian (Charlie, not Evan, folks) blues with energetic comping from ...