Liner Notes

Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley made his first appearance on Blue Note Records in 1954 as a member of The Jazz Messengers under the leadership of Horace Silver and began leading his own dates the following year marking the start of a fruitful 15-year run on the label. Mobley was still establishing his unique identity as an improvisor with a lyrical, swinging style and as a composer of note on his early Blue Note sides including the 1957 sextet album Hank (BLP 1560) featuring Donald Byrd on trumpet, John Jenkins on alto sax, Bobby Timmons on piano, Wilbur Ware on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Side One presents two enticing Mobley originals—“Fit For A Hanker” and “Hi Groove, Low Feedback”—while Side Two features a brisky, jaunt through Cole Porter’s “You’d Be So Easy To Love” and an elegant performance of the Styne-Cahn ballad “Time After Time” before closing with a hard-charging romp on Bud Powell’s “Dance Of The Infidels.”