Saturday, November 7, 2009

Hank MOBLEY - Third Season 1967 (REPOST)


Hank MOBLEY - Third Season 1967 (REPOST)

Jazz

There's no one, I'll say it again: no one, period--who improvises more creatively than Hank Mobley, 1954-1963. Anything from this period gets played every day in my collection: it's music of inexhaustible lyricism and unforced beauty--more palatable than a constant diet of any other saxophonist I can think of. Beginning as early as 1964 Hank begins to buckle--to the pressures from Blue Note for not selling records, to the pressures of peers, who were either running funk-wild over boogaloo beats or churning out the same Dorian mode tunes over and over again. Neither approach treated Hank kindly, who couldn't "sell out" even when he tried to. Sound was his medium, his instrument, his voice--not his gimmick.

This session has more of the old Mobley than I would have expected and, moreover, is not mired in soul cliches or faux modal freedom. But the proceedings get dull in a hurry, as though a listless Mobley senses it's about over, short of a last few, mostly unfortunate, attempts to gain the ears of listeners in the late sixties and beyond. Pick it up only if you're determined to fill in all of the chapters of the rise and fall of a natural-born singer on the instrument, perhaps the most inventive yet purest aesthete the blues has ever known.
By  Samuel Chell.
**
Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley recorded frequently for Blue Note in the 1960s (six albums from 1967-1970) and, although overshadowed by the flashier and more avant-garde players, Mobley's output was consistently rewarding. For this overlooked session, which was not issued until 1980 and then finally reissued on CD in 1988, a regular contingent of top Blue Note artists (Mobley, trumpeter Lee Morgan, altoist James Spaulding, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Walter Booker, and drummer Billy Higgins) are joined by a wild card, guitarist Sonny Greenwich. The music is mostly in the hard bop vein, with hints of modality and the gospel-ish piece "Give Me That Feelin'," but Greenwich's three solos are a bonus and the performances of five Mobley originals and one by Morgan are up to the usual caliber of Blue Note's releases. Pity that this one has been lost in the shuffle.
by Scott Yanow.
**
Lee Morgan- (Trumpet)
James Spaulding- (Alto Sax, Flute)
Hank Mobley- (Tenor Sax)
Cedar Walton- (Piano)
Sonny Greenwich- (Guitar)
Walter Booker- (Bass)
Billy Higgins- (Drums)
**
01. An Aperitif (6:52)
02. Don’t Cry, Just Sigh (6:51)
03. The Steppin’ Stone (5:36)
04. Third Season (6:44)
05. Boss Bossa (5:11)
06. Give Me That Feelin’ (6:33)
**
NoPassword
*
DLink
*

No comments:

Post a Comment