The Flip [Limited Edition, Original recording remastered]

Hank Mobley | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 7, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 1969
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Limited Edition, Original recording remastered
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B0000CDL5W
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,249 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The Flip

2. Feelin' Folksy

3. Snappin' Out

4. 18th Hole

5. Early Morning Stroll

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Horns, No Groove, February 24, 2004

By 

Michael Hardin (South Duxbury, Vermont United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Flip (Audio CD)

Let me preface this by saying that I love Hank Mobley's work. His later stuff, though, tends to be less inspired and more of the same thing. He never seems to change with the times, other than whipping off another Sidewinder knockoff for each session.

The personnel on this album is pretty good, and in general, Hank on tenor, Dizzy Reece on trumpet, and Slide Hampton on 'bone have some good ideas in soloing. I never have anything bad to say about the drummer, Philly Joe Jones. The problem is with the rest of the rhythm section. Vince Benedetti on piano and Alby Cullaz on bass are pretty awful at times. There's no groove or gel keeping the beat together. The worst example is the title track. Philly Joe is playing a pretty heavy swing pattern, but Vince is playing funk rhythms, the same over and over again, and Alby isn't assertive enough for the listener to tell with whom he's siding. It has a negative effect on the style of the piece and the whole feel, setting the soloists up for some messy work.

The rest of the tunes are okay, but I could probably pick three other Hank Mobley tunes each one sounds like.

This album is okay, and good for completists. If you do like later Hank Mobley, "Thinking Of Home," also in the connoissuer series, is a good bet. Cedar Walton on that one is a much better pianist than Benedetti on here.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars No Need to Flip Over "The Flip", October 7, 2003

By 

Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Flip (Audio CD)

I love Blue Note's limited edition Connoisseur Series, but unfortunately they are running out of things to reissue. Hank Mobley's "The Flip," recorded on July 12, 1969 in a Paris studio, is a mediocre session that will only appeal to Blue Note completists. The album features Hank on tenor sax, Slide Hampton on trombone, Dizzy Reece on trumpet, Vince Benedetti on piano, Alby Cullaz on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums -- all of whom were expatriates at this time with the exception of Cullaz who is French. "Snappin' Out" and "Early Morning Stroll" are enjoyable numbers, but the magic is gone. Even Philly Joe sounds uninspired, or maybe that is just engineer Jacques Yves Barral's poor mic-ing. By 1969 the world was on to new horizons, and the sparkle found on "Soul Station," "Roll Call" and "Workout" was a distant memory. For my money, Hank's last solid session was the now out-of-print "Hi Voltage" from 1967. With so many earlier Mobley titles to choose from, there is no need to flip for "The Flip."

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I heard enough online; I'm not buying this, October 16, 2005

By 

M.B.E. (Great Neck, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Flip (Audio CD)

You know, online previews are supposed to highlight the best of something, so that hopefully you buy it, possibly liking nothing else than the highlights. Kind of like the butcher's strategy, where you wrap the steak so that the good side is up, and you can't see the moldy side with all of the maggots. If you could see the maggots on the steak, would you buy it? Well, I heard the maggots right here. The previews sounded awful technically. It was fuzzy on my beloved Altec Lansing speakers. Where was Rudy Van Gelder when we needed him the most? I agree with the good horns and the bad piano. Being a piano and a vibraphonist, I know how to COMPLEMENT soloists, and I know when to get pissed off at another pianist. The piano player who doesn't deserve to be named was very restrictive. Especially on track 2. Mobley definitely felt very restricted. The groove was simply not on at all.

This is the kind of album where if I were to borrow ot from a friend and put it on my iPod, I might do so because I have plenty of space on it, and come on, it's Hank Mobley. If I were to receive it as a gift, I would probably use it as store credit and buy Roll Call. And if I had to buy The Flip, I would prefer to buy it from iTunes so that it doesn't litter my bookshelf.

Bottom line: if you want to buy mediocre Mobley, at least save $5 and buy Reach Out (by the way, why are all Connoisseurs more expensive than RVGs?).

PS: I agree with a previous reviewer who spotted sound alikes. I really shouldn't be playing "Name That Tune" with a CD, but it was just too obvious. The title cut, "The Flip," is the half-brother of "The Jody Grind." I think Horace Silver should sue.