“Learn to BeBop on changes like Hank Mobley first. It tells you when to stop.”

Those were roughly the words one of my all-time heroes Rick Margitza said to me when I had the chance to have a lesson with him in New York. And even though more than twenty years ago, it hasn’t told me when to stop.

Up to this day I enjoy working on lines. Hank is without any doubt one of the most precise players that I have heard. Everything seems to fall into place just as it should.

Whenever I practice one of his solos it feels as if there’s no other way to play a phrase. I have often played his solo on Tenor Conclave as it so clearly lays out the changes, yet still full of beauty and full of detail.

In my pursuit of building loops to practice I have put together another exercise, solely build with phrases from this solo. In the last bar I prefer to use a Minor 7th chord instead of the Dom 7th one. But that’s of course only a matter of taste.

And here’s the whole thing through all keys: