After Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley is probably one of the tenor saxophonists most beloved by jazz fans. His confident blues-washed sound, warm tone and snakey improvisation never fail to grip and inspire. He also personifies the hard bop sound of the late 1950s. [Photo above of Hank Mobley by Francis Wolff, courtesy of ©Blue Note]
Hank was Mobley’s fourth studio album for Blue Note. Recorded in the spring of 1957 and released later that year, Hank featured Hank Mobley (ts), John Jenkins (as), Donald Byrd (tp), Bobby Timmons (p), Wilbur Ware (b) and Philly Joe Jones (d). It has just been reissued as part of Blue Note’s Tone Poet series cut directly from the original analog tapes and manufactured on 180-gram vinyl.
The lineup was particularly interesting, since each artist brought a different texture and tone, creating a tender but assertive presentation.
Jenkins is little known today but a formidable player with a Jackie McLean sound. Among the important albums he played on in 1957 were Teddy Charles’s Coolin’ (1957) and Sahib Shihab’s The Jazz We Heard Last Summer (1957). He also recorded a batch of superb leadership dates, including Alto Madness with McLean (1957), Jenkins, Jordan and Timmons (1957) and John Jenkins With Kenny Burrell (1957).
Donald Byrd was a beautiful trumpeter who loved the upper register. His attack was delicate, similar in many regards to a dancer’s steps—fast, airy and poetic.
Bobby Timmons pioneered the gospel-jazz approach on the keyboard, and here he deploys that church feel behind the horns to great effect.
Wilbur Ware was a prolific hard-bop bassist who was also hired to record extensively on Riverside albums.
And Philly Joe Jones gave the group’s sound drama and energy, with his calamitous polyrhythms and cymbal bashes.
The tracks:
Fit for Hanker (Hank Mobley)
Hi Groove, Low Feed-Back (Hank Mobley)
You’d Be So Easy to Love (Cole Porter)
Time After Time (Sammy Cahn/Julee Styne)
Dance of the Infidels (Bud Powell)
Taken together, the sextet has a spring-loaded, snapping sass and glorious grace that make Hank one of my favorite Mobley albums. I also love Tom Hannan’s playful cover design.
To buy the vinyl, go here or here.
Here’s Fit for a Hanker…
And here’s Hi Groove, Low Feed-Back…
Solid breakdown of how Jenkins brought that McLean-esque edge alongside Mobley's smoother approach. That tension between the two saxes is what makes this sextet stand out instead of sounding like another hard bop date. Heard this album in college during a late study session and the way Timmons uses that gospel touch under the horns totally shifted my understanding of rythm section dynamics.
Mobley was, is and always will be my go to tenor. Easy on the ears with just enough "bite" and when he dialed things back, no one wrapped themselves around a ballad quite like Hank.