Flip – Hank Mobley

Hank Mobley's last six Blue Note albums all had at least one song with a funky medium-tempo groove; The Flip is a classic example. It's based on a two-measure pattern in the piano and bass, alternating E♭7 and A♭7; this pattern runs through the entire head even as the chords change. This song has a 40-measure AABBC form; the two B sections have slightly different melodies and C is the same as A. The melody is quite simple but fun, full of those snappy rhythms that define the Mobley style. The changes are again very simple: the A section alternates E♭7 and A♭7, with B♭7 in the last two measures, while the B section stays on B♭7 throughout. Several of these chords have a sharp 9th, which in this setting implies a blues-scale sound rather than an "altered" chord quality. In the A section the melody stays on the E♭ blues scale; the B section is mostly in the B♭ blues scale.

There is an eight-measure intro setting up the groove. Our C treble clef lead sheet shows the piano figure here, while the B♭ and E♭ lead sheets show the piano rhythms below the staff; the C bass clef lead sheet has the bass line. For the ending on the recording, the rhythm section returns to the intro, vamps and fades out. There is no three-horn arrangement on the recording; the horns play in octaves throughout the head.

Check out the recording to get a sense of the rhythmic feel. A lot of songs in this funky '60s Blue Note style have an even-8ths feel, but this one is swinging; drummer Philly Joe Jones plays a shuffle-like groove throughout the head and solos.

"The Flip" was recorded during Hank Mobley's trip to Paris in 1969. Right from the beginning, you can hear that this album was done at a studio other than Rudy Van Gelder's; in fact it is Mobley's only studio album as the sole leader, on any label, not recorded by Van Gelder. The contrast in tone is particularly dramatic in the context of "The Complete Hank Mobley Blue Note Sessions 1963-70", a Mosaic box set released in 2019 that compiles 12 Mobley sessions—all but "The Flip" session coming from Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio.

For another Hank Mobley song with a similar melodic rhythm and groove, check out Flirty Gerty from his 1967 album "Hi Voltage."