Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Lee Morgan (trumpet), Harold Mabern Jr (piano), Larry Ridley (bass), Billy Higgins (drums).

Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. June 18, 1965.

(from: "Dippin" Blue Note 4209)

Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan appeared to be inseparable. They first teamed up, in November 1956, for the spirited young trumpeter’s Savoy label debut. Morgan was 18, a veteran of Dizzy Gillespie’s Big Band and a firebrand performer. Mobley, seven years his senior, distinguished himself blowing in a highly personalized manner that frequently ran counter to the Hard Bop stampede of the time. Nonetheless, Mobley’s stance never excluded him form the best games in town, being sufficiently adaptable to score frontline employment with top draw bands of Art Blakey, Max Roach, Horace Silver and Miles Davis. Three weeks after the Savoy set, Morgan repaid Mobley in kind, sharing trumpet duties with the ubiquitous Donald Byrd on a Blue Note date, ‘Sextet’ (1540).

And, that’s the way their comradeship continued. In all, Morgan guested on seven of Hank Mobleys Blue Note outings, whilst the tenorist is to be hear on three Lee-led efforts for Alfred Lion. A founder Jazz Messenger, Mobley returned to HQ, in the spring of 59, to briefly partner Morgan for the period between Benny Golson’s departure and Wayne Shorter’s arrival. And, is on the two volums of At The Jazz Corner Of The Word’ (4015/16) direct from Birdland’s bandstand, that foreveer remains testament to their Blakey-driven process.