Hank Mobley Quartet – Live at Jazzhus, Montmartre – Copenhagen – April 11, 1968 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Over to Copenhagen this weekend for a whopping 2 1/2 hour set by the Hank Mobley Quartet, recorded live at Jazzhus Montmarte in Copenhagen on April 11, 1968 and broadcast by RTS Espace 2 in Switzerland.
The lineup for this gig includes – Kenny Drew on piano, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass and Albert Heath on Drums.
In 1961, Hank Mobley recorded two of his own albums, Workout and Another Workout, although Another Workout was not released until 1985. Both featured a rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones, all of whom were in Davis’s bands during the late 1950s. The delay of the latter album’s release was later called “incomprehensible” by producer Michael Cuscuna and “astonishing” according to Bob Blumenthal. The personnel on Workout included guitarist Grant Green, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones,[19] while Another Workout featured the same personnel, excluding Green. Mobley rehearsed extensively before his 1960s Blue Note recordings, typically twice during the week preceding a Saturday studio session, with Blue Note paying for the rehearsals and recordings. Alfred Lion, co-producer of the label, would frequently direct the band’s tempo or critique studio takes until he was pleased with them.
Mobley recorded No Room for Squares in 1964, featuring trumpeters Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan, with DownBeat remarking that on the album Mobley “conveyed quiet authority,” and followed a year later with A Caddy for Daddy. Mobley, Lee Morgan, and soul jazz pianist Harold Mabern recorded another mid-60s album, Dippin’, in one day. According to Samuel Chell, No Room for Squares was “the first session on which [Mobley] would begin to sacrifice lyric inspiration and subtlety of phrasing to a harder sound and stiffer rhythmic approach.”
In 1964, Mobley was imprisoned for possession of narcotics for a second time. While in prison Mobley wrote songs that were later recorded for the album A Slice of the Top. The album was recorded in 1966 but was not released until 1979. The popularity of Mobley’s albums decreased during the mid-1960s, though he continued to record regularly this period. Three critically acclaimed albums recorded during the mid- to late-60s include A Caddy for Daddy, Hi Voltage, and The Flip. Apart from his album Reach Out!, also recorded in the late 60s, Mobley avoided progressive jazz and the electric sound popular with jazz musicians during this period.
To get a taste of what Hank Mobley was up to in 1968, Hit Play and dive into this gig in Copenhagen.
