Years ago when I was a student at Berklee, everyone said, if you wanna learn Bop, dig into Sonny Stitt. I did a bit of that and there's no question, Stitt is one of the great codifiers of the bop language. But! I've been spending some time digging into Mobley's solos on the Rhythm Changes form of which there are many. He clearly LOVED these changes going so far as to use the A section for "Old World, New Imports" and "Three Way Split" w/ different bridge changes for each.
Here are the solos I've been working on:
The Theme (April 59 w/ Blakey) - https://photos.app.goo.gl/KJ1WDTwv9oAUu7N98
Tenor Conclave (Sept. 56) - https://photos.app.goo.gl/tV1x64oLrUAx64oS8 *I also have the 2nd player's solo (Zoot?) and I'm aiming to grab the Cohn & Coltrane <-YIKES in the near future.
Please note these are practice videos so you'll see lots of mistakes and me still working out the kinks so while I'd love any advice / critique on where I can improve - i.e. lay behind the beat more, lighten up on the picking more etc. - Just please don't be cruel :-)
W/ regard to the information I'm learning from Hank's lines. Holy fucking wow! This is a man who keeps it simple and the beauty of the line takes precedence over what hip notes or subs he could slip in. However, there are also some very hip ideas that he slips in (Flat Major subbing for V Chord coming out of the bridge leading into the last 8).
In summary - I feel like I am really learning the bop language far more fluidly by studying Hank's playing. IMO, he should be positioned at the forefront of essential players that should be studied (following Lester, Wardell & Bird) for students going through the journey to learn the foundations of the bop language. I don't think his name ever came up in any classes I took as a source. Unfortunately, they jump from bop to Coltrane which becomes its own universe. However, if you don't learn this foundational stuff first and leapfrog straight to the advanced harmonic stuff Coltrane was architecting it feels a bit abstract to grasp.
Looking forward to thoughts.