Customer Reviews

Straight No Filter

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hank Mobley's "Straight No Filter" was until this reissue, arguably the single most sought after out of print CD in the Blue Note catalog, if not all jazz. I once saw one sell at an on-line auction for over ...! But now with "No Room For Squares" and "The Turnaround" being reissued in the RVG series (and with their original vinyl sequencing), it was only fitting to make "Straight No Filter" available as well. But interested buyers should purchase this quickly because "Straight" is a limited edition title, and it will not make a permanent return to the catalog as an RVG edition.

"Straight No Filter" is basically the leftovers from Mobley's brilliant mid-sixties Blue Note sessions. There are nine songs from four different dates featuring a variety of musicians, but the CD flows amazingly well. The songs are tracked in reverse chronological order with the first three cuts from 6/17/66 featuring Mobley, Lee Morgan, McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw and Billy Higgins. These are probably the disc's weakest offerings with "Chain Reaction" borrowing a bit much from Coltrane's "Impressions" (which in turn borrowed from Miles Davis' "So What"), but at least Tyner feels at home in this setting.

"Third Time Around" and "Hank's Waltz" were both originally released on the first CD version of "The Turnaround," in order to unite all the music recorded at the 2/4/65 session featuring Mobley, Freddie Hubbard, Barry Harris, Paul Chambers and Higgins. Next is "Syrup and Biscuits" and "Comin' Back" which were both originally available on the first CD version of "No Room For Squares," to assemble all the songs from the 10/2/63 session. The songs from October 2nd studio recording have always been my favorite, largely due to the innovative lineup of Morgan, Mobley, Andrew Hill, John Ore and Philly Joe Jones. And, these four tracks just mentioned are definitely the meat of this Mobley disc, but then again they are songs that have been with me for a decade as I owned the original CDs.

The real pleasant surprise for me was the disc's last two tracks -- "The Feelin's Good" and Sy Oliver's old-time swinger "Yes Indeed," the only tune not penned by Mobley on "Straight No Filter." These tracks, and two more on the RVG version of "No Room for Squares," were from a 3/7/63 session featuring Mobley, Donald Byrd, Herbie Hancock, Butch Warren and Philly Joe. Why Alfred Lion didn't make Mobley pull out a few standards or old Jazz Messenger tunes, and keep the tape rolling, I don't know. There was truly magic in the air at the Van Gelder Studio on that night!

Although it has taken a while for "Straight No Filter" to finally resurface, good things do come to those who wait. Blue Note, for all of its corporate mentality, is doing as much for jazz now with its reissue program, as it did by recording this material in the first place back in the 50s and 60s. We owe it all to the wisdom of Michael Cuscuna -- send him a thank you note, he's earned it.

I picked up this Blue Note "connoisseur series" at my local cd shop and really love it. This album features various configurations of musicians, and in my opinion they are all-stars. Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Donald Byrd on trumpets, Herbie Hancock, Barry Harris, McCoy Tyner, and Andrew Hill on piano, and Billy Higgins or Philly Joe Jones on drums, Butch Warren, Paul Chambers, and Bob Cranshaw on bass. Throughout it all is Hank's fresh and inventive tenor sax. This release completes a number of sessions that resulted in his other legendary albums, so if you have a Hank Mobley collection you have to add this one.

I think it's obvious that the titles got mixed up on this album. Track 1 is most likely "Chain Reaction," track 2 is certainly "Soft Impressions," and track 3 is most likely "Straight, No Filter." I can't believe this has never been corrected!

As for the music, McCoy Tyner has killer solos on the first two tracks.

This album although it may be a limited edition, is definitely not limited in the talent of each of the artists. There are three kickin lineups including Lee Morgan, Donald Byrd, and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, McCoy Tyner, Barry Harris, Herbie Hancock, and Andrew Hill on piano, Bob Cranshaw, Paul Chambers, John Ore, and Butch Warren on bass, and Philly Joe and Billy Higgins on drums. All the cuts on this album are just jammin'. The way these maestros come together and make such swingin' cookin' music is just how music should sound. This is a definite must for any jazz lover, even if you are just starting to listen to jazz. As Sy Oliver said,"Yes Indeed!"

If you are a hard-bop fan, this may be the greatest recording ever. That is no overstatement. When you have Byrd, Morgan and Hubbard on the trumpet, Philly Joe and Billy Higgins on the skins, Andrew Hill and Herbie Hancock on the piano alongside Chambers, Butch Warren and Ore on bass--this is obviously one of the best jazz lineups ever. At the very least, it is a classic recording that swings and drives like few other cds ever can. As the owner of hundreds of great jazz recordings, I can tell you this should not be missed.

This posthumous album gives you a grab bag of 9 tunes from 4 different quintets that Hank Mobley recorded with in the mid 1960s. With many musicians, such a project might have collected sub-par performances that were cut for good reason. But Mobley was so consistently good that he often produced more material than Blue Note could use for each of his albums. While I generally prefer albums from a single group of musicians, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I liked this CD very much. The variety of musicians (3 trumpeters, 4 pianists, 4 bassists, and 2 drummers) and the timespan of 3 years actually give the album extra variety that makes it very appealing. In many ways, this could be viewed as the ideal CD for someone new to Mobley to buy in order to sample this period of his career. The only thing I don't like is that the album presents the 4 sessions in reverse chronological order.

I also wanted to comment on ajp's review indicating that the titles of the first 3 tunes are mixed up. While I first thought that this seemed unlikely, I noticed that the liner notes indicate that the second tune, "Chain Reaction", has a line close to Coltrane's "Impressions". I then listened to a snippet of Coltrane's tune from his "Impressions" album and confirmed that "Chain Reaction" and "Impressions" are quite similar. So, I think ajp is probably correct that the second tune should have been labeled "Soft Impressions". Once you accept that, then his belief that the first tune should have been labeled "Chain Reaction" while the third tune should have been labeled "Straight No Filter" also makes sense. Someone at Blue Note probably mixed up the titles at the recording session itself and they've been wrong ever since. Alternatively, maybe Mobley didn't actually have names for the pieces at all and someone just made up names without realizing that the second tune was based on Coltrane's "Impressions".

But whatever you call the tunes, they're all good.

This Album is made up of several recording dates and includes many of the great Blue Note recording artists. Lee Morgan, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Donald Byrd and others appear on this disk.

The second track "Chain Reaction" is a cooker! I'm really diggin' McCoy Tyner's contributions to this album.

This is a good album; strong playing, hard swinging, late 60's hard bop. No more or less, really. Great Stuff, but if you are just starting to amass jazz records, there are many more distinctive records one should aquire first. But judged on it's own merits, this is a fine record with a constantly shifting line up of players. This record provides an exellent oppertunity to contrast the various players.