Why the material was split like this and amalgamated with other sessions as fragments of other discs has never been made clear.However, in this new digital age, it is quite simple to reconstruct this 'missing' album. Two more, "East Of The Village" and "The Good Life", appeared on "The Turnaround!" in 1965 and the remaining two tracks, "The Feelin's Good" and "Yes Indeed", were not released until after Hank Mobley's death in 1986 as part of the album "Straight No Filter". As he told John Litweiler in a rere interview in 1973, the record company had at least five of his albums "on the shelf".As a case in point, the music from this seminal session from 1963 – the personnel are: Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Donald Byrd (trumpet), Herbie Hancock (piano), Butch Warren (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums)- was treated inexplicably by Alfred Lion.Two tracks, "Old World, New Imports" and "Up A Step", appeared on the 1963 album "No Room For Squares".
Hank Mobley solos in lyrical and flowing fashion. Herbie Hancock, then only 23 and just on the point of joining Miles Davis, is fluent and inventive. There are four essential original Hank Mobley compositions here, important in re-evaluating his role as a jazz composer."The Feelin's Good" is a mid tempo, upbeat blues of the kind that Alfred Lion would have wanted to draw an audience into an album. And yes, it just might have relaunched his career and have avoided the long decline into obscurity that awaited him. Here is our version of what the album details could look like:The Good Life (Sacha Distel, Jack Reardon) 05:08Old World, New Imports (Hank Mobley) 6:06Total tuning time 37 minutes, 33 seconds.This is not a long running time in terms of the emerging LP technology of the 60's: was that what was driving Alfred Lion's decision to parcel out this material as makeweight on other Hank Mobley albums?Listening to this as an album is remarkable indeed.Yes, this would have been a seminal album in Hank Mobley's attempt to re-establish himself after the gap in his output after "Soul Station".
Half way in, we are in "Kind Of Blue" territory and feel before coming out into a hard bop finale.Sy Oliver's "Yes Indeed" is good-time gospel tinged blues with suitably robust playing all round.The modal "East of the Village" is perhaps the highlight of the session, emphasizing once again Hank Mobley's importance as a composer and the growing maturity of his playing with great solos from all the principals.The Distel-Reardon song "The Good Life" is played as a big, Coleman Hawkins style ballad, unusual in Hank Mobley's repertoire but offering a good balance against the overall upbeat approach of the session. Herbie Hancock weaves textured piano around the driving bass/drums accompaniment. There are long and involving solos from Donald Byrd and Hank Mobley. After the initial statement of the opening theme, the whole tune literally moves up a step into a long modal tension release that is quite simply joyous. And that holds true for the whole session."Up A Step" is a favorite Hank Mobley track.
Only in the fullness of time have we been able to put back together a great work that was unrecognized in its day.
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