Hank Mobley - No Room for Squares - UHQ CD

2024

In addition to boasting one of Reid Miles’ greatest album cover designs, Hank Mobley’s 1963 album No Room for Squares is also a marvel for the music alone. The tenor saxophonist had already notched several hard bop masterpieces in his Blue Note belt including Soul Station and Workout, but No Room for Squares was an even more ambitious effort that found Mobley elevating his game as a bandleader, improviser, and a composer.

The album was drawn from two different sessions each featuring a different quintet line-up. A March 7 date found Mobley with trumpeter Donald Byrd, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Philly Joe Jones who deliver thrilling performances of the Mobley originals “Up a Step” and “Old World, New Imports.” Mobley returned to Van Gelder Studio on October 2 with Jones once again on drums plus trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist Andrew Hill, and bassist John Ore to lay down takes of Mobley’s skittering tunes “Three Way Split” and “No Room for Squares” in addition to two remarkable Morgan tunes: the gorgeous ballad “Carolyn” and the grooving “Me ‘N You.”