July 7, 1930 – May 30, 1986

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Saxophonist and composer Hank Mobley was born on July 7, 1930 in Eastman, Georgia.

While temporarily homebound with an illness at 16, Mobley’s uncle suggested picking up the sax to stay occupied.

At the age of nineteen he performed with Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach and took part of the first hard bop sessions with Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Doug Watkins, and Kenny Dorham released on in 1955 as “Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers.”

In 1961 he performed briefly with Miles Davies as a temporary replacement for John Coltrane.

Mobley would go on to work predominantly as a leader, with more than twenty albums for Blue Note to his credit recorded between 1955 and 1970 including his celebrated 1960 LP “Soul Station.”

His additional collaborators have included Grant Green, Sonny Clark, and more prominently Lee Morgan.

During the mid-1970s respiratory problems forced Hank into early retirement.

Hank Mobley returned performing on two occasions at the Angry Squire in New York during November 1985, and January 1986 as a member of a quartet also featuring Duke Jordan shortly before his death.

Recorded by Hank Mobley in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on February 7, 1960 and released on his album “”Soul Station.”

Personnel: 

Hank Mobley, tenor sax
Wynton Kelly, piano
Paul Chambers, bass
Art Blakey, drums

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