Roll Call [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Hank Mobley | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 27, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 1960
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B00006C77D
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,357 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No description available.
Genre: Jazz Music
Rating:
Release Date: 0000-00-00
Media Type: Compact Disk

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, August 27, 2002

By 

G. Schramke (Vienna, Austria) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roll Call (Audio CD)

This is one of Mobley's greatest records. He uses the same rhythm section that he had on his album "Soul Station", done some month earlier (Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Art Blakey), adding Freddie Hubbard on trumpet. With such a fast company, everybody bursting with enthusiasm, it was clear that that something great would happen. Hank Mobley had reached the peak of his career, with his unique sound, phrasing and harmonic skills fully developed. The addition of Freddie Hubbard is very rewarding. He was then"the new voice" and became one of the most influential trumpet players of the sixties. A particularly nice tune here is "A Baptist Beat", done twice (the original master and an alternate take). It is the album's feature of traditional influences, just like it happend on the title tune of the mentioned "Soul Station". The only non-original is the rarely performed "The More I See You", really a beautiful tune with a rare feature of Hubbard unsing the harmon mute. The special thing about Hank Mobley is his unique musicianship, he isn`t as spectacular like, let's say Johnny Griffin, with whom he recorded in 1957, with John Coltrane featured ("A Blowing Session", also available on RVG-Series), he has a more sublte way of expression, but once he has reached you, you'll love him the same way I do.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Energetic and exciting, not at all mellow, November 19, 2003

By 

bob248 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roll Call (Audio CD)

I purchased this album, largely based on my love of Soul Station. Roll Call is a very different animal. The tempo is energetic, and never lets up. Freddie Hubbard blows, and blows, and clearly dominates every track. In my opinion it would have been more correct of Blue Note to label this album a Freddie Hubbard album, rather than Hank Mobley (even though Hank was the leader).

If you are expecting to hear much of Wynton Kelly, then forget it. He has a few short solos, but otherwise you would barely notice that he was even present. Art Blakey and Paul Chambers do a fine job of backing Freddie and Hank. The whole band play in a unified, tight-knit group, and it is clear that they "clicked".

When you play this album, don't expect to sit back and relax. This is not an album to play late at night, to relax you after a hard day at the office. It is one that you should listen to in the morning to get your blood pumping for the day ahead.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flawless jazz, September 23, 2002

By 

N. Dorward "obsessive reviewer" (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roll Call (Audio CD)

Blue Note in their inscrutable wisdom let this disc drop out of catalogue for many years, while keeping its companion _Soul Station_ in print. Good to see it finally getting caught up in the latest wave of reissues. It reunites the band from _Soul Station_ a few months later--Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Art Blakey--with the new addition of a young Freddie Hubbard. It thus represents a dovetail of two future relationships for the horns: Hubbard after this was to become a longstanding member of Blakey's Jazz Messengers, while Mobley was to join Chambers & Kelly in Miles Davis's band.

This is a blunter album than _Soul Station_: whereas the former album had mostly quite brief tracks, this one has two ten-minute cookers, the title-track & "A Baptist Beat". Blakey is in imperious, hardhitting form, & Hubbard is quite wonderful: he's not yet become as slick & self-assured as he was in later years, & here he's got a slightly more acrid tone & an extra ounce of brashness & wildness. It's an album where the mix of musical personalities seems just right, giving the album an upbeat but laidback vibe that's very attractive.

The reissue is nicely done, & the bonus track (the alternate take of "A Baptist Beat") is quite good, not just a space-filler. (One nice touch is Wynton Kelly's sneaking in a little Gershwin under cover of Hubbard's solo; & Chambers also gets an arco feature not on the released take.) A pity that Van Gelder can't do anything about the album's one minor flaw--the bum note on the studio piano that's most prominent on the title-track--but that's hardly more than a minor quibble. This is an album good to have back in the racks.