Pianist Sonny Clark recorded five albums with tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley. Three were Mobley leadership sessions and two were led by Clark. They were together on Hank Mobley (recorded in June 1957), Dial S for Sonny (in July 1957), Mobley's Curtain Call (in August 1957), Mobley's Poppin' (in October 1957) and Clark's My Conception (in March 1959).
It's hard to pick a favorite among these albums, just as it's hard to isolate a Clark recording as superior to all of his other collaborations and leadership sessions. Clark was soulful and elegant on everything he recorded. But there's something special about the Clark-Mobley collaborations, especially on My Conception. Strangely, the album was shelved by Blue Note in 1959 and wasn't released until 1979, when the material first appeared on vinyl in Japan. The perfectly paired quintet included Donald Byrd (tp) Hank Mobley (ts) Sonny Clark (p) Paul Chambers (b) and Art Blakey (d).
Mobley's sound was assertive and elastic, like stretched taffy, while Clark plays with pinpoint tenacity and grace. In addition to the lyrical Mobley-Clark conversation, Byrd's trumpet sizzles like frying eggs, Chambers's bass is thick and rubbery, and Blakey's drums are taut and splashy. Taken together, the quintet is completely in sync, working as one with a purposeful feel. But what's special is they leave each other space so that each playing artist is distinct during ensemble passages and during solos. Also remarkable is that all of the album's songs are Clark originals, a reminder of how gifted the pianist was as a hard-bop composer and arranger. [Photo above of Hank Mobley by Francis Wolff]
As Clark says in Michael Cuscuna's liner notes from 1980, "I never heard Hank Mobley in person until I came to New York, but I listened to his records with the Jazz Messengers and dug him very much. [He] plays in my style and I was very happy working with [him] and very satisfied with the results." [Photo above of Sonny Clark by Francis Wolff]
Sonny Clark died in 1963, at age 31, of a heroin overdose; Hank Mobley died in 1986.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Sonny Clark's My Conception (Blue Note) here.
You'll also find the album at Spotify.
JazzWax clips: Here's the entire album...
