Search - Hank Mobley :: Reach Out

In Between

M.H. | Music City, U.S.A. | 06/18/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I picked this one up on vacation at a used CD/sundry shop in Western Connecticut, so I didn't exactly have high expectations when I listenned to it. I guess the question is what do you get when you combine a post-bop tenor player/composer (Mobley) with a intuitive soul guitarist who, at the time, couldn't read music (George Benson), Ornette Coleman and Jackie McLean's sometime pianist (LaMont Johnson) and the dean of post-bop drummers not named Elvin Jones (the late, great Billy Higgins). Though, given all these influences and talent, I think the results are a bit uneven. I think somebody (Blue Note, the album producer) was aiming at the pop market in a Wes Montgomery sort of vein and Mobley et al played straight ahead. The result is a sort of hybrid, like these guys are trying to run with leg weights on.This reminds me of the "Grass Roots" Blue Note album by Andrew Hill in the same late 60's era, where he played 5 cuts with a soul jazz combo and the same 5 with a straight ahead combo. Blue Note thankfully re-released with all the versions, so the fan could hear the distinct approaches to the same material. In "Reach Out", I think you have what happens when everyone is NOT on the same page.Still, you have Mobley's compositions. His true fans would want to have this in their collection, as it is one of his last Blue Note collaborations."