Hank Mobley was once famously described by the English pianist Leonard Feather as “the middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone” – a reference to his distinctive tone, which was not as aggressive as John Coltrane, but equally not as mellow as Lester Young. He occupied a sweet spot that lent itself perfectly to his particular take on hard bop and later soul jazz.

Sonny Rollins, a musician known for a very different approach to the tenor, described Mobley’s playing as smooth and effortless. Although sometimes underappreciated in the pantheon of jazz, he truly was a musicians’ musician garnering reverence from his fellow players.

Early in his career, Mobley played with legends like Charlie Parker and Max Roach as well as becoming a member of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. For “Soul Station”, recorded and released in 1960, he is backed by Blakey on drums, Wynton Kelly on Keys and Paul Chambers on bass. Together, they form a formidable quartet, with each member given space to come to the fore alongside Mobley’s leadership.

The album is bookended by two standards. Irving Berlin’s “Remember” kicks off proceedings with its laid-back charm and perfect demonstration of Mobley’s fluid and lyrical style. Closer “If I Should Lose You”, a composition by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin, demonstrates the fine chemistry between the four players, with Blakey’s understated drums, Chambers’ steady bass and pianist Wynton Kelly’s skilful comping providing the perfect backdrop for Mobley to extemporise around the theme. Kelly also puts in a fine solo on this track.

“Soul Station” is an album that is finely tuned in every way. The track lengths give the players long enough to explore the compositional ideas at play without ever becoming self-indulgent. It’s not a long record, but every second is impactful.

The four Mobley originals make up the core of the album. “This I Dig Of You” picks up the pace after the languid opener, with Mobley’s emotive playing dancing over the top of Kelly’s bright and charming piano work. In the last leg of the track, Blakey puts in a truly blistering drum solo before the band picks the theme back up again to close things out.

“Split Feelin’s” demonstrates that virtuosic prowess of Mobley, with one of his hardest hitting solos on the album. Title track “Soul Station” is a languid and wandering number with an easy charm that perfectly showcases the interplay and creative spark between the four players across its nine-minute run time.

It’s hard to say why Mobley, although a legendary musician in the eyes of many, remained so underrated among the players of the bop era. He was a formidable composer, distinctive instrumentalist and consummate band leader. One aspect may be that he didn’t innovate greatly, rather operating within existing stylistic approaches of the time. However, he achieved greatness not because he created a huge break with the past or invented a new subgenre of jazz, but because everything he did bore his hallmark as a player and was executed to the highest standard.

“Soul Station” is a classic of the bop era and deserves its place among some of the more celebrated entries by Mobley’s contemporaries. It also acts as a perfect jumping off point for anyone new to his work to start exploring the back catalogue of this extraordinary artist.

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Andrew Taylor-Dawson is an Essex based writer and marketer. His music writing has been featured in UK Jazz News, The Quietus and Songlines. Outside music, he has written for The Ecologist, Byline Times and more.

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_{Header image: Hank Mobley. Photo: Francis Wolff / Blue Note Records.}