"Peckin' Time", badged as a Hank Mobley-Lee Morgan joint effort, is really a Hank Mobley album; all the compositions (except for the Weil/Nash standard "Speak Low") are Hank Mobley originals. Not that Lee Morgan does not play with characteristic fire and clarity. But recognizing Hank Mobley as the main creative force here is yet another necessary step in his ongoing re-valuation.

The band - Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Lee Morgan (trumpet), Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Charlie Persip (drums)- is stellar and delivers dynamic hard bop. The Wynton Kelly / Paul Chambers combination that powered Miles Davis' band is once again enabling and energizing. Hank Mobley plays with perhaps the greatest assurance of any point of his career, with long, beautifully crafted solos that match Lee Morgan's in their strength and inventiveness.

The opening track, "High And Flighty", is very much in Jazz Messengers territory. "Speak Low" starts out as a latin-based vehicle for Lee Morgan's trumpet playing before morphing into a more straight ahead bop piece with fine soloing from Hank Mobley. The title track and "Stretchin' Out" are angular, offbeat blues-based bop of the kind that Hank Mobley was so adept at composing. The closing track,"Git-Go Blues", is a straightforward blues that offers plenty of soloing space for piano, sax and trumpet.

Overall, this is an album that it is easy to recommend. It is another asset in building a true picture of Hank Mobley as a great sax player and jazz composer.