Comments on: The Best of Hank Mobley?????

By: Lawrence J Sanders

Lawrence J Sanders — Fri, 25 Dec 2020 03:37:54 +0000

Thank you for being here. I too am much the same as David Kramer above. (Hi David, Glad to know about you) As a very young kid about 8 or 9 years old, I remember being intrigued with Radio Broadcasting in general, thinking there were little bands taking turns playing their songs. Then, one late night, I was up listing and going through the stations and stumbled onto LA’s 1st Commercial Jazz station (KBCA 105.1FM) and heard a real cool & slick talking D.J. named Jai Rich who was coined the Father of LA Jazz Radio. Needless to say, I was hooked from that day to this, on Jazz and Radio. Additionally, I found my way into many radio stations as a friend to some of the best JD’s in LA Radio… Who would often give me free copies of promotional records and some times they’d had me free tickets to concerts. It was a great experience for me. At last count, I hade collected over 5,000 albums… some free and most paid for and that was in 1978. There was this older construction guy named Charles Green that I worked for who knew “All-About-Jazz” at least from my prospective. From him, I learned the names of many of the top Jazz musicians, what albums they recorded, when they were recorded etc, etc. including what instrument they played and how they played it. We studied their sound and playing technique and would listen to some songs and would talk about what we liked about their works for hours and hours every day. We talked about Coltrane, Stitt, Ammons and many others. He also introduced me to Hank Mobley and Hadley Caliman the same day. Mobley by way of a 1965 album mentioned in some of the earlier post in this conversation… “No Room For Squares” which became and stile is my All-Time Favorite Album by Hank Mobley and it get my vote, if there is such a thing. If you have it or access to it, you’d be giving yourself a huge treat to check out the song “Up A Step” Later I found that there is another version of the same album with different takes of some to the same songs. While you’re at it, see if you can fine the album I mentioned by Hadley Caliman… It’s a self-titled release that came out in 1971, if you are a real jazz lover like most who left a comment, you’ll like “Cigar Eddie” As you can see, I’m all rapped up into to this Jazz thing as much today as I was in the mid 60’s. It amazes me how much of an attraction Jazz could have on someone… I’ve been watching (Henry Franklin – The Skipper) load up his van with his big Bass and drive all over southern California to play for a few hours and some times less that that since I became aware of him in the early 70’s. And at 80 he’s stile ready to go.
Thank you reading.

By: David Kramer

David Kramer — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 12:32:48 +0000

I have often thought how great it would be to just join up with a group of knowledgeable people who appreciate and love Jazz like I do. I never claim to be an expert nor do I play an instrument. I’ve been listening to Jazz now for over 40 years now and am constantly discovering and re discovering great recordings. I’ve listened to Mobley for some time now and consider him one of my favorite tenors. After Coltrane. I look forward and hope to gain more insight with this website . Peace

By: Joseph

Joseph — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 08:54:03 +0000

BN 1550 is my choice……….

By: Stuart Levine

Stuart Levine — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 18:43:51 +0000

Thank you gentlemen. I feel reassured that what I have is indeed a first pressing.

By: Woody

Woody — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 16:16:07 +0000

Stuart, sorry, no, although Blue Note lps weren’t shrink wrapped during manufacturing the outer wrap itself doesn’t have any bearing on the manufacturing date. There were companies that specialized in acquiring and repackaging unsold store stock and returns.
Some of these companies used shrink wrap machines as having a protective clear outer bag became the norm.
You may not believe it but there was a time when you couldn’t give away a mono pressing.
In the late 90’s I spent a lot of time helping out Red Carraro, a local jazz dealer, load in and out of record fairs/shows. If you knew Red, he was a great storyteller.
One of my favorites was how in the sixties as Mono sales were tanking he would run around town buying up unwanted mono Blue Note titles for $1 each. Red would drive into Manhattan for work and before heading home he would buy as many copies as he could fit into his trunk. He befriended record store owners who were grateful to be able to unload unwanted “mono” stock (I know, I know, sigh).
Unfortunately by the time I met Red these were all loooong gone.

By: cellery

cellery — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 10:39:55 +0000

Stuart, if it has the identifiers you mention it’s a first pressing, no doubt about it. It was probably sealed by a vendor at some later point and opened by whoever bought it. Occasionally Plastylite-era Blue Notes show up in tight shrink; I have a copy of Cool Struttin’ that came in it but is by all appearances an early second press (47 West on labels and laminated cover with no INC, ear, DG both sides, no R and INC side 1).

By: Stuart Levine

Stuart Levine — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 01:02:48 +0000

Woody, I appreciate your expertise. My Soul Station mono has DG, W.63rd, RVG and the ear on both sides. I am befuddled as to why it has this outer wrap. Even with all these indicators of an Original pressing, is it possible that it is NOT? I paid a ton of money for BLP 4031 at Disk Union – a very reputable company here in Japan. However, might I have been taken to the cleaner?

By: Ian Shadwick

Ian Shadwick — Sun, 10 Dec 2017 05:45:00 +0000

A couple of curve balls for you. Reach Out under his own name and Cornbread for sideman plus I agree with Kees on Miles at the Blackhawk ( later CD release so you can all he had to offer )

By: GST

GST — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 18:06:30 +0000

I’ll put in a vote for Workout. Also one of my favorite Blue Note covers.

By: gw

gw — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 17:48:46 +0000

Senor Blues, with Horace (BN 1539)