No Room for Squares cover

No Room for Squares

Released

This album includes four tracks from March 1963 and two from October of that year; the first batch featured Donald Byrd on trumpet, Herbie Hancock on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums, while the latter featured Lee Morgan, Andrew Hill, and John Ore, with Jones returning. Mobley was a melodic, subtle player whose compositions gave his bandmates plenty to work with, and he wrote four of the six tracks here, with Lee Morgan contributing the others. Hill’s clanging piano gives the October tracks more of an edge; the title track nods to the avant-garde at a few points. But ultimately, this is mid ’60s hard bop at its soulful, songful best.

Phil Freeman

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