Hank Mobley - The Complete Blue Note Hank Mobley Fifties Sessions (1998)

This is a typically remarkable box set from Mosaic. The six-CD limited-edition package has all of tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley's recordings as a leader for Blue Note from a three-year period, all of the music originally included in the albums titled The Hank Mobley Quartet, Hank Mobley Sextet, Hank Mobley & His All-Stars, Hank Mobley Quintet, Hank, Hank Mobley, Curtain Call, Poppin', and Peckin' Time; not a lot of imagination went into these records' original titles. There is only one previously unissued selection (the alternate take of "Barrel of Funk"), but two of the albums were only out previously in Japan, and most of the others had not been previously available on CD. Mobley, an underrated player with a distinctive sound (influenced at times by Sonny Rollins), would continue to grow as an improviser and composer throughout the 1960s, but even on his earliest date here, he is a strong (if unsung) soloist. Featured along with the leader is a who's who of 1950s hard bop, including trumpeters Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Bill Hardman, Kenny Dorham, and Art Farmer, pianists Horace Silver, Bobby Timmons, Sonny Clark, and Wynton Kelly, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassists Doug Watkins, Paul Chambers, Wilbur Ware, and Jimmy Rowser, and drummers Art Blakey, Charlie Persip, Philly Joe Jones, and Art Taylor. A must for Hank Mobley and 1950s Blue Note fans, but this deluxe box (released in 1998) promises to go out of print quickly.

Tracklist:

CD1
1. Hank's Prank
2. My Sin
3. Avila and Tequila
4. Walkin' the Fence
5. Love for Sale
6. Just Coolin'
7. Hank's Prank [Alternate Take]
8. Walkin' the Fence [Alternate Take]
9. Touch and Go
10. Double Whammy
11. Barrel of Funk
12. Mobleymania

CD 2
1. Barrel of Funk [Alternate Take][#]
2. Reunion
3. Ultramarine
4. Don't Walk
5. Lower Stratosphere
6. Mobley's Musings

CD 3
1. Funk in Deep Freeze
2. Wham and They're Off
3. Fin de l'Affaire
4. Startin' from Scratch
5. Stella Wise
6. Base on Balls
7. Funk in Deep Freeze [Alternate Take]
8. Wham and They're Off [Alternate Take]
9. Fit for a Hanker

CD4
1. Hi Groove, Low Feedback
2. Easy to Love
3. Time After Time
4. Dance of the Infidels
5. Mighty Moe and Joe
6. Falling in Love With Love
7. Bags' Groove
8. Double Exposure
9. News
10. Mighty Moe and Joe [Alternate Take]

CD5
1. Don't Get Too Hip
2. Curtain Call
3. Deep in a Dream
4. The Mobe
5. My Reverie
6. On the Bright Side
7. Poppin'
8. Darn That Dream
9. Gettin' into Something
10. Tune-Up

CD 6
1. East of Brooklyn
2. High and Flighty
3. Speak Low
4. Peckin' Time
5. Stretchin' Out
6. Git-Go Blues
7. High and Flighty [Alternate Take]
8. Speak Low [Alternate Take]
9. Stretchin' Out [Alternate Take]