Tone Poet Society

Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley made his first appearance on Blue Note Records in 1954 as a member of The Jazz Messengers under the leadership of Horace Silver and began leading his own dates the following year marking the start of a fruitful 15-year run on the label. Mobley was still establishing his unique identity as an improvisor with a lyrical, swinging style and as a composer of note on his early Blue Note sides including the 1957 sextet album Hank (BLP 1560) featuring Donald Byrd on trumpet, John Jenkins on alto sax, Bobby Timmons on piano, Wilbur Ware on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Side One presents two enticing Mobley originals—“Fit For A Hanker” and “Hi Groove, Low Feedback”—while Side Two features a brisky, jaunt through Cole Porter’s “You’d Be So Easy To Love” and an elegant performance of the Styne-Cahn ballad “Time After Time” before closing with a hard-charging romp on Bud Powell’s “Dance Of The Infidels.”

Tyrone Washington’s 1967 debut Natural Essence introduced a vital new voice in jazz whose unique conception could move between exploratory post-bop to groove-based soul jazz while channeling the charged intensity of the avant-garde. Having emerged from Horace Silver’s Quintet, the tenor saxophonist offered his own calling card on this evocative set of six original compositions. Washington had made his first Blue Note appearance the year prior on Silver’s groovy date The Jody Grind as part of a horn section that also included trumpeter Woody Shaw and alto saxophonist James Spaulding. Washington would assemble the same frontline for his own leader date along with a versatile rhythm section of pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Joe Chambers. Highlights of the album include the sinuous title track, the plaintive ballad “Yearning For Love,” the propulsive hard-driving swing of “Positive Path,” and the irrepressible groove of “Soul Dance.”

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