Hank Mobley

Curtain Call is a Hank Mobley quintet session recorded for Blue Note on 18 August 1957 that stayed in the vault for 27 years. It first appeared in Japan in 1984 under the title Hank Mobley Quintet Featuring Sonny Clark, and took its present name on a Japanese CD in 1996. That a date this strong went unissued says a lot about how much hard bop the label was recording at the time. Mobley alone led six Blue Note sessions in 1957.

The recording was made at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, with Alfred Lion producing and Rudy Van Gelder engineering. Mobley's tenor shares the front line with the trumpet of Kenny Dorham. Sonny Clark is on piano, Jimmy Rowser on bass and Art Taylor on drums. The first Japanese LP credited the wrong bassist, an error corrected on later issues.

The programme holds four Mobley originals and two standards. The extended opener, Don't Get Too Hip, sets a relaxed medium groove, and the title track is a hard-charging piece that pushes the two horns. The Mobe swings brightly. The standards are Deep In A Dream and My Reverie, the popular song drawn from a piano piece by Claude Debussy. Both give room to Mobley's soft, rounded tone.

The 1984 release was prepared by Michael Cuscuna, who also wrote its notes. Reviewing it for AllMusic, Lee Bloom singled out the character and maturity of Mobley's writing, and its rhythmic approach to melody. He also noted that the saxophonist's relaxed phrasing sometimes turns languid.

This stereo Tone Poet edition was produced by Joe Harley and mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analogue master tapes. It is pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI and housed in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket. According to the Discogs list of versions, it is the first LP to carry the title Curtain Call.