1957 · Album
Curtain Call
Recorded August 18, 1957 · Blue Note (Japanese release, 1984) · Personnel: Hank Mobley (saxophone), Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Sonny Clark (piano), Jimmy Rowser (bass), Art Taylor (drums)
Mobley and Clark: a meeting of minds
Mobley's writing here has real character, built on a rhythmic intelligence that makes melodies stick.
Curtain Call captures Hank Mobley in 1957, paired with Sonny Clark at the piano—and that partnership is what makes this session worth hearing. Mobley's tenor has always had a relaxed, conversational quality, the opposite of urgent or flashy. He doesn't chase you around the horn. But paired with Clark's touch and harmonic thinking, that restraint becomes an asset. Clark was a pianist who understood space and didn't fill every gap, and you can hear them working in that shared language here, neither overplaying, both listening. The writing on this record shows Mobley thinking carefully about melody, about how to build something memorable without obvious dramatic gestures. AllMusic reviewer Lee Bloom noted that Mobley's playing is generally enjoyable and his writing exhibits character and maturity, with a uniquely rhythmic approach to crafting melodies. That's accurate—these aren't standard blues heads or Tin Pan Alley standards dressed up in bebop clothes. They're tunes that breathe a little differently.
The session also features Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Jimmy Rowser on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. Dorham's approach here is spare and thoughtful, never stepping on Mobley's ground. Taylor keeps time with the kind of precision and swing that lets the soloists breathe. There's no rushing, no showing off. The whole date has a kind of ease to it that can read as understatement if you're not paying attention, but listen closer and you'll hear craft.
This isn't Mobley's most celebrated period—that came later, when he recorded steadily for Blue Note in the early 1960s. Curtain Call comes from earlier, when he was still building his voice, still figuring out exactly what he had to say. It's solid work from a saxophonist and composer with something real to offer, captured in good company.
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More by Hank Mobley
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The musicians on this record
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