Soul Station


Soul Station is an album by American jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley recorded on February 7, 1960, and released on Blue Note later that year. Mobley's quartet features rhythm section Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Art Blakey.

Background

Recording

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio and rooted in the hard bop style, Mobley's quartet features Art Blakey, and Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers, who Mobley would join in the Miles Davis Quintet by year's end.

Composition

The album's bookends are two standards, "Remember" by Irving Berlin and "If I Should Lose You" by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin. Between these standards are four new Mobley compositions, featuring the bluesy title track and the uptempo "This I Dig of You".

Liner notes

In the liner notes to the Rudy Van Gelder CD edition, jazz critic Bob Blumenthal explains how the album is understood to be, for Mobley, what Saxophone Colossus or Giant Steps were for Sonny Rollins or John Coltrane respectively. Blumenthal goes on to describe the recording as "one of the finest programs of music on Blue Note or any other label."

Reception

reviewer Stacia Proefrock concluded: "Overall, this is a stellar set from one of the more underrated musicians of the bop era."
Pete Welding of DownBeat praised the album, calling it "a well-balanced and tasty blowing session that benefits from thoughtful preparation, finds the tenor saxophonist fronting a quartet composed of three of the finest rhythm men in the business."

Track listing

All compositions by Hank Mobley, except where noted.

Personnel

Musicians