Hank Mobley - Mobley's Message

For sale individually and as part of Analogue Productions’ Prestige Mono Series

Cut from the analogue masters by renowned mastering engineer Kevin Gray

180-gram pressing by Quality Record Pressings

Deluxe high-gloss tip-on album jacket

"...hard-bop devotees shouldn't overlook Mobley's Message, especially when they can savor this superb vinyl reissue." Sonics = 5/5; Music = 3.5/5 — Duck Baker, The Absolute Sound, October 2013

Critic Leonard Feather asserted that Hank Mobley was “the middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone,” meaning that his tone wasn’t as aggressive and thick as John Coltrane or Sonny Rollins, but neither was it as soft and cool as Stan Getz or Lester Young. Mobley helped inaugurate the hard bop movement: Jazz that balanced sophistication and soulfulness, complexity and earthy swing, and whose loose structure allowed for extended improvisations.

 

 

Born in Eastman, Georgia, in 1930, but raised in New Jersey, Hank’s long-lined tenor offerings became a staple for pianist Horace Silver’s group, which evolved into the ‘50s super quintet co-led by Art Blakley, dubbed the Jazz Messengers. Their groundbreaking first album for Blue Note, 1955’s Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers, was a hard bop landmark, featuring sophisticated solos and bright, almost funky rhythms. Mobley hit his peak in the first half of the 1960s with hard bop cornerstones like Soul Station, No Room for Squares, and A Caddy for Daddy.

On this Prestige offering, Mobley delivers his signature swinging style in three different variations. Four numbers are by the quintet in which Hank is helped by telegrapher Donald Byrd and his “sending” trumpet. They disseminate the information of two pronouncements from bop’s palmy days, Bud Powell’s “Bouncin’ With Bud” and Thelonious Monk’s “52nd Street Theme,” plus two more numbers, Hank’s “Minor Disturbance” and the group’s “Alternating Current.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Charlie Parker’s blues, “Au Privave,” the group becomes a sextet with the addition of a young turk of the alto sax, Jackie McLean.

Hank is the sole horn on “Little Girl Blue.”

Originally released in 1956

Donald Byrd, trumpet
Barry Harris, piano
Jackie McLean, alto Sax
Hank Mobley, composer, tenor sax
Art Taylor, drums
Doug Watkins, bass

 

1. Bouncin' With Bud

2. 52nd Street

3. Au Privave

4. Minor Disturbance

5. Little Girl Blue

6. Alternating Current

Customer Reviews (5.00 Stars) 3 person(s) rated this product.

why would you spend $2000? posted on 07/01/2023 5 Stars Reviewer: Tim when this will sound better for $40 ? yes it is THAT good

Breathtaking!!! posted on 06/08/2023 5 Stars Reviewer: Audio Alien I've practically worn this out! Great dynamics. The audio is just spectacular. If you don't own this one, buy it before it sells out!

Excellent!!! posted on 11/18/2012 5 Stars Well, these reissues are in my wheelhouse. Going to get the whole set. The cover is perfect, and probably expensive. The static free inner sleeve is top notch. The vinyl was dead quiet. And the color insert is more interesting than what came with original. I believe early originals came with a waxy, sealed inner sleeve. Not many people know about that...would have been a nice expensive touch. Kevin Gray(finally got a nice stamp for run out)did a splendid job!!!! Looking forward to the stereo series. All of those should sound stunning! Ervin, Dolphy, etc. Can't wait. I'll let someone else compare to other pressings. I quit looking for perfect originals years ago. They are just changing hands for 1K plus. These are not audiophile recordings, but the product is. Think Music Matters early Blue Notes with better vinyl. The stereos should blow a lot of people away. Reason being they are great titles that have not been reissued to death.

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