This debut of Mobley on Blue Note includes Horace Silver on piano and Doug Watkins on bass, plus someone named Art Blakey on drums. ~ Ron Wynn

Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan (tp) Hank Mobley (ts) Horace Silver (p) Paul Chambers (b) Charlie Persip (d) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, November 25, 1956

Donald Byrd (tp) John Jenkins (as) Hank Mobley (ts) Bobby Timmons (p) Wilbur Ware (b) Philly Joe Jones (d) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, April 21, 1957

Bill Hardman (tp) Curtis Porter (as, ts) Hank Mobley (ts) Sonny Clark (p) Paul Chambers (b) Art Taylor (d) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, June 23, 1957

Today we can only speculate as to why so many Blue Note sessions were not originally issued. Blue Note founder/producer Alfred Lion, known to be punctilious in upholding a very high standard for his product, sometimes felt that a particular session was not worthy of public release. While neither…

Poppin’ was one of many sessions tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley recorded in the late ’50s and early ’60s but remained unreleased until the late ’70s and ’80s. It’s hard to say why this album sat on the shelves, since it as good as the other records he cut at…

Benny Golson’s writing for this date uplifts it beyond most of the jam session sets of the period. Trumpeter Lee Morgan (then 19) is in excellent form, holding his own with his impressive sidemen (trombonist Curtis Fuller, George Coleman on tenor and alto, pianist Ray Bryant, bassist Paul Chambers…

The trumpeter, then just 19, teams up with baritonist Pepper Adams, pianist Bobby Timmons, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones for a particularly strong set that is highlighted by a lengthy and fiery “Night in Tunisia,” “Lover Man” and a rapid rendition of “Just One of Those…

It seems strange that the music on this CD was not released initially until 1980. Trumpeter Lee Morgan had had an unexpected hit with “The Sidewinder,” so his more challenging recordings were temporarily put aside. As it turns out, this was one of Morgan’s better sets from the 1960s…

This date was one of trumpeter Lee Morgan’s more obscure Blue Note sessions, but fortunately, it has been reissued on CD. Matched with altoist Jackie McLean, pianist Bobby Timmons, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Art Blakey, Morgan interprets two of Cal Massey’s compositions, McLean’s “Midtown Blues” and his own…