In House of Hard Bop on Saturday 17 December at 17:00 CET. Tenorist Hank Mobley started recording for Blue Note Records in 1955. In the course of fifteen years, that became several dozen recordings. Philly Joe Jones was the drummer on some of them. This hard bop tandem, Mobley-Jones, is the common thread in a series of four programs that starts this week.
Hardbop (which is also known as hard bop) is a style of playing, composition and arranging that emerged in the mid-1950s. Bebop, but more accessible. Elements of blues, gospel and R&B made hardbop less “complicated”, less of a highbrow niche for insiders with a high musical IQ. The new style quickly appealed to a wider audience. One of the breeding grounds of hard bop was the group formed by pianist Horace Silver and drummer Art Blakey, The Jazz Messengers.
This quintet performed in November 1955 in the New York Cafe Bohemia, a performance that resulted in two influential Blue Note records: At The Cafe Bohemia vol 1 & 2. The tenor saxophonist was Hank Mobley, who also contributed a few compositions. Earlier in the year, Mobley had made his debut under his own name with Blue Note, in the company of the Messengers Silver and Blakey. Two years later, Mobley was performing with a sextet in the Rudy Van Gelder Studio. In the rhythm section: “Philly” Joe Jones!
Jones worked for Miles Davis from 1955 to 1958. That group – which also included John Coltrane – would go down in history as The Quintet. Jones was Davis’ favorite drummer. To his great regret, Davis had to fire him and Coltrane. Drug use had made their behavior unreliable and unacceptable. However, Jones had establsihed his name in the premier league of hard bop. He went freelance.
In the programme you can listen to the complete album Hank (1957). Click for the line-up.
This is followed by three tracks from Poppin’ (1957). Click here for more information.
House of Hard Bop – a programme made by Eric Ineke
