Hank Mobley: Soul Station (180g blue vinyl) [BLUE NOTE / EMI]

Why you'll love it

This Blue Note 85th anniversary edition comes on 180g blue vinyl with an obi strip. Critic Bob Blumenthal called Soul Station one of the finest programs of music on Blue Note or any other label.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Blue vinyl
• Obi strip
• Blue Note 85th anniversary collection
• Stereo mix

About the album

Some saxophonists announce themselves with a shout. Hank Mobley did it with a conversation, a warm, round tenor tone that never needed to raise its voice. On February 7, 1960, at Van Gelder Studio, he had the best listeners in the business. Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers were Miles Davis's rhythm section, and Art Blakey was his old boss from the Jazz Messengers. Alfred Lion produced, Rudy Van Gelder engineered, and Reid Miles designed the cover.

Irving Berlin's "Remember" opens the record with Mobley's round, relaxed tenor at its most lyrical, and Ralph Rainger's "If I Should Lose You" closes it. In between come four Mobley originals, the bluesy title track, the quick "This I Dig of You," "Dig Dis" and "Split Feelin's," each one swinging without ever breaking a sweat.

Blumenthal's liner notes put it on the same shelf as Saxophone Colossus and Giant Steps, and DownBeat praised a tasty blowing session with three of the finest rhythm men around. Mobley joined Miles himself by the end of the year, so it seems the audition went rather well.

Also at Kops: more Hank Mobley on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Blue Note (cat# 0746554), a reissue of the 1960 album.