After leaving the Miles Davis Quintet, tenorman Mobley was largely inactive for about a year. This album, his tenth for Blue Note, is Hank’s first feature showcase for some time and, amidst the plethora of new wave discs, it represents a green oasis to lovers of hard-driving mainstream-modern like myself.
Drawing his inspiration from the model sources of Parker and Young, Mobley added a touch of Coltrane, but spiced the mixture with his own personality to produce an instantly identifiable style; one which is forceful when the occasion demands, but always warm and relaxed. As an improvisor, he consistently displays a steady flow of potent musical ideas that inevitably mesh to form balanced solos. And he knows when to stop blowing. It is rare to hear Hank repeat a phrase twice in a single solo.
Pianists Andrew Hill and Herbie Hancock both have great facility, but are fairly commonplace soloists who tend to jam their allotted passages with a glut of notes
Trumpeters Lee Morgan and Donald Byrd – both longtime associates of Hank’s – are his respective front-line partners on the two sessions making up this LP. Each owes a debt to Clifford Brown in varying degrees. Morgan is the flashier, but Byrd scores with his cohesion and understatement, although Donald’s usual bell-like tone sounds rather pinched here. Pianists Andrew Hill and Herbie Hancock both have great facility, but are fairly commonplace soloists who tend to jam their allotted passages with a glut of notes. This nervous, single-note piano approach can become quite dull in the wrong hands.
Of the six themes, four were written by Mobley, two by Morgan. They are neither pretentious nor daring. Morgan’s Carolyn is an attractive ballad line, while Hank’s Squares and Up A Step are modal compositions. All the material is suitable in this cooking, hard bop context.
Squares and Split are excellent examples of the leader’s scorching tenor flights. Listen to the way he piles on the excitement during Squares – without once resorting to tasteless honks. Smacking suspiciously of Watermelon Man, Me ’n You is a Latin blues on which drummer Philly Joe Jones moves things along with a pleasantly throbbing beat. In passing, I must commend Philly for his handsome drumming in both groups. But Rudy Van Gelder (expert engineer though he is) does seem to have over-recorded him here. At times, Jones’ cymbals loom far too large behind the horns.
The bright, up-tempoed Old World is a rousing closer. Byrd steers a tight course through the changes, Hank gets in an urgent bit while P.J.J, contributes a short and snappy interlude. As Joe Goldberg says in his notes, “It would be foolish to make any claims of radicalism or profundity for this music.’ However these sides provide 44 minutes of professional, often inspired, jazz, together with a timely reminder that Mobley is a boss on his horn. He probably reached a peak on Soul Station (BLP 4031) and Roll Call (BLP 4058), but No Room For Squares should not be missed – even by the biggest square.
Discography
(a) Three Way Split; (a) Carolyn; (b) Up A Step (23 min) – (a) No Room For Squares; (a) Me ’n You; (b) Old World, New Imports (21 min)
(a) Lee Morgan (tpt); Hank Mobley (ten); Andrew Hill (p); John Ore (bs); Philly Joe Jones (d). Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1963.
(b) Donald Byrd (tpt); Hank Mobley (ten); Herbie Hancock (p); Butch Warren (bs); Philly Joe Jones (d). Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1963.
Blue Note BLP 4149 / BST 84149 12inLP 42s. 6d.
