Bill Mobley

{{short description|American jazz musician}} {{BLP no footnotes|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Bill Mobley | birth_date = {{birth date and age|April 7, 1953}} | birth_place = [[Memphis, Tennessee]], U.S. | genre = [[Jazz]] | instruments = [[Trumpet]], [[flugelhorn]] }}

'''Joseph William Mobley''' (born April 7, 1953) is an American [[jazz]] trumpet and [[flugelhorn]] player.

==Early life and education== Mobley was born in [[Memphis, Tennessee]]. Both of his parents were musicians. Mobley learned piano, his mother's instrument, from age five, and while his father sang and played trombone and trumpet, Mobley did not have formal trumpet lessons in his youth. He studied music education at [[North Texas State University]] in 1971 and 1972, then returned to Memphis, where he played with [[Herman Green]] and [[James Williams (musician)|James Williams]]. He earned a bachelor's degree from [[Rhodes College]] in 1976.

== Career == After graduating from college, Mobley relocated from Memphis to [[Boston]], where he took a position teaching at [[Berklee College of Music]] from 1982 to 1986. His credits in the 1980s included work with [[Bill Pierce (saxophonist)|Bill Pierce]], [[Donald Brown (musician)|Donald Brown]], the [[Artie Shaw]] Orchestra under the direction of [[Dick Johnson (clarinetist)|Dick Johnson]], and [[Geoff Keezer]]. In the 1990s he performed with [[Marvin "Smitty" Smith]] and [[Clifford Jordan]], also playing with his own [[big band]] in New York City.

==Discography== ===As leader=== * ''Triple Bill'' (Evidence, 1996) * ''Mean What You Say'' (Space Time, 1999) * ''Moodscape'' (Space Time, 2007) * ''New Light'' (Space Time, 2008) * ''Live at Smoke'' (Space Time, 2011) * ''Black Elk's Dream'' (Space Time, 2013) - a live album with Orchestre d'Auvergne * ''Hittin' Home'' (Space Time, 2016)

===As sideman=== '''With [[Donald Brown (musician)|Donald Brown]]''' * ''Early Bird'' (Sunnyside, 1988) * ''Cartunes'' (Muse, 1995) * ''Wurd On the Skreet'' (Space Time, 1998) * ''At This Point in My Life'' (Space Time, 2001) * ''Fast Forward to the Past'' (Space Time, 2008)

'''With others''' * [[Alan Dawson]], ''Waltzin' with Flo'' (Space Time, 1998) * [[Bill Easley]], ''First Call'' (Milestone, 1991) * Bill Easley, ''Easley Said'' (Evidence, 1997) * [[Geoff Keezer]], ''Waiting in the Wings'' (Sunnyside, 1989) * Geoff Keezer, ''Other Spheres'' (DIW, 1993) * [[Harold Mabern]], ''[[The Leading Man (album)|The Leading Man]]'' (Columbia, 1993) * [[Calvin Newborn]], ''Up City!'' (Yellow Dog, 2005) * [[Sara K.]], ''Play On Words'' (Chesky, 1994) * [[Jean Toussaint]], ''Blue Black'' (Space Time, 2001) * [[Roberta Piket]], ''One for Marian: Celebrating Marian McPartland'' (Thirteen Note, 2016)

==References== {{Reflist}} * Gary W. Kennedy, "Bill Mobley". ''[[The New Grove|The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz]]'', 2nd edition, ed. [[Barry Kernfeld]].

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mobley, Bill}} [[Category:1953 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:American jazz trumpeters]] [[Category:American male trumpeters]] [[Category:21st-century American trumpeters]] [[Category:Jazz musicians from Tennessee]] [[Category:21st-century American male musicians]] [[Category:American male jazz musicians]]