Hank Mobley - Workout (2024 Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series Vinyl LP)

Hank Mobley - Workout | Vinyl LP - 2024 Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series 180g (5832034, Kevin Gray/Cohearent Audio, Optimal Media GmbH)

Hank Mobley recorded Workout on March 26, 1961 — the fourth of five consecutive hard bop albums he cut for Blue Note between 1960 and 1963. Alfred Lion produced; Rudy Van Gelder engineered; Francis Wolff photographed the cover. The rhythm section was borrowed: Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers were under contract to Vee-Jay Records, appearing here while simultaneously serving as Miles Davis's regular pianist and bassist. Grant Green was Blue Note's busiest guitarist during this period. Philly Joe Jones, the drummer, brought the same propulsive directness he had with Davis.

Four of the five tracks are Mobley originals. They move directly — "Workout" and "Uh Huh" hit a hard groove and stay there, "Smokin'" does exactly what the title promises, "Greasin' Easy" is looser, slower-burning. The fifth track, "The Best Things in Life Are Free," is a standard from the 1927 Broadway show Good News — Mobley takes it at medium tempo with enough lyrical ease to distinguish it from the rest of Side B. The combination of Mobley's underrated but soulful tenor, Kelly's spring-loaded comping and Grant Green's single-note guitar runs makes the record an argument for the quintet format done without compromise. Kevin Gray mastered this Classic Vinyl edition at Cohearent Audio from the original analog master tapes; Optimal pressed it on 180g vinyl in Germany.