If the title of "Mr. Blue Note" had been given out to a performer, tenor-saxophonist Hank Mobley would have been its recipient. Mobley's smooth tone and style defined the hard bop era. He put plenty of emotion and intensity into every note he played. During 1955-70, Blue Note's greatest years, Mobley led 25 Blue Note albums and appeared as a sideman on a countless number of others.

Originally a pianist, he switched permanently to tenor when he was 16. After playing r&b during 1949-51, he gained a strong reputation during important associations with Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver and especially the original version of the Jazz Messengers. Soul Station, a quartet gem from 1960, is unusual for Hank in that for the first time since his 1955 debut his is the only horn.

Mobley heads a group that includes pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Blakey; needless to say, a stellar rhythm section! This album features Hank Mobley at the peak of his powers, taking lengthy solos full of passion and drive, balancing exciting ideas with a thoughtful approach. His four originals include his most famous composition, "This I Dig Of You", which he squeezes for every ounce of its expressive power.

Hank plays with heartbreaking lyricism on the two standards "If I Should Lose You and "Remember" and creates masterful statements throughout this essential set. If proof were ever needed of Hank Mobley's greatness, Soul Station is perfect evidence.

This pressing is on SRX Vinyl. SRX stands for “Silent Running Xperience.” SRX is our own proprietary formula, conceived and developed by Rick Hashimoto of Record Technology and manufactured by Neotech. Its noise floor is fathoms lower than any other vinyl we know of out there past or present. Records pressed with it look like normal black discs until you hold them up to the light and see that they are translucent and smoky, silvery gray in color. The near-perfect silence of SRX Vinyl virtually frees the music from groove noise and draws you further into the listening space, setting it in relief so distinct, full and spacious it’s nearly sculptural. You hear more of what’s on the original tapes, not only of the notes played on the instruments but the experience of the event itself. That's why we call it Silent Running Xperience.

Like all Music Matters Jazz releases, this is cut from the original analog tapes, mastered by Ron Rambach and Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio, and pressed at Record Technologies Inc (RTI). The gorgeous gatefold jacket is from Stoughton Printing in City of Industry, California and includes exclusively licensed photos from the original session inside.

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