Harold+mabern

Harold Mabern, a superior hard bop pianist, had a rare opportunity to perform a set of unaccompanied solos for this Sackville release. Recorded live from Toronto's Café des Copains and originally broadcast on the radio, Mabern performs six jazz standards (including "Joy Spring," "Pent Up House" and Wayne Shorter's "House of Jade") and a pair of bluesy originals. Although Mabern sounds most comfortable in a trio, he has always been enough of a two-handed player to play solo; he readily acknowledges the influences of Phineas Newborn and Ahmad Jamal.

Legendary composer, arranger, pianist, educator, and leader Harold Mabern returns with another Smoke Sessions recording, the engaging album “To Love and Be Loved”. He brings a sextet of exceptional musicians featuring the fabulous tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb of Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” fame, protean trumpet master Freddie Hendrix, and the facile double bassist Nat Reeves, with percussionist Cyro Baptista, in his only appearance, enlivening the song, “To Love and Be Loved”. Mixing up the musicians, Mabern uses quartet, quintet, and sextet sized configurations, and plus a mesmerizing solo piano performance. This recording also especially provides more examples of the power, invention, and empathy that is shown by the long-term Harold Mabern and Eric Alexander association which has enlivened so many wonderful recordings.

Pianist Harold Mabern and bassist Kieran Overs, although from Memphis and Canada, respectively, explore ten songs written by jazz musicians from Philadelphia on this CD, plus Mabern's "Edward Lee." While a few of the tunes are fairly well known in jazz (particularly Lee Morgan's "Ceora" and Benny Golson's "Whisper Not"), most of the others are obscure. Mabern and Overs work quite well together, with the bassist adding stimulating lines to the pianist's solos and having some good solo spots himself. Since Mabern, whose modern chord voicings are fresh and personal while influenced a bit by McCoy Tyner, has not recorded enough during his long career, this set is a valuable addition to his discography. A special highlight is his unaccompanied version of Cal Massey's "The Cry of My People."

Since his emergence onto the New York scene in 1959, pianist Harold Mabern has become one of the few true living jazz stylists on the piano. Having played with everyone from Lionel Hampton to Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, and Lee Morgan, Mabern has the experience and the depth of knowledge sufficient to be called a master. There is no one on the scene who sounds like him, and his sense of lyricism, rhythm, time, and the entire range of dynamics in his playing attract other players as well as listeners. The Leading Man, issued in 1993, is considered a classic, both for its selection of material and the performances of the various ensembles Mabern assembled for the date. But there is something else, too – nowhere in Mabern's recorded catalog is there a performance like this from him.

Harold Mabern's second release on Smoke Sessions Records, Afro Blue, is a very special recording featuring guest vocalists Gregory Porter, Norah Jones, Jane Monheit, Kurt Elling, and Alexis Cole. The chemistry of these artists with Harold the sound of his piano voicings combined with their voices is extraordinary. Well-known in jazz circles as a consummate accompanist for instrumental soloists, The Mabe also has a special gift for sensitive and supportive playing behind singers. It's something he takes pride in and has been doing since he first hit the stage at Birdland half a century ago with Betty Carter.

Duo piano performances always have the possibility of being overcrowded, too dense and a bit directionless. Fortunately, this live set from the Montreal Bistro in Toronto, Canada avoids the potential flaws. Pianists Harold Mabern and Geoff Keezer (who also comprise 2/5ths of the Contemporary Piano Ensemble) have complementary styles and blend together quite well on the set. Dedicated to Phineas Newborn, with two of Newborn's songs included ("Jate" and "While My Lady Sleeps"), there are also selections by Leroy Vinnegar, Duke Pearson ("Jeannine"), Nat Cole and Mabern ("Rakin' & Scrapin"). Mabern takes Cole Porter's "I Get a Kick Out of You" as his feature, while Keezer is showcased solo on Thad Jones' "Consummation." A swinging high-quality set within the modern mainstream.

It was hard to miss Sammy Davis Jr. during the 1960s, as he was prominent on the radio with a number of hits, as well as singing, dancing, and doing comedy on TV and acting in films. Yet the contributions of this talented entertainer have been overlooked since his death in 1990. Harold Mabern has long thought of paying tribute to him and this 2012 release conveys the joy of Davis on-stage, even without vocals. The pianist is joined by tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, bassist John Webber, and drummer Joe Farnsworth, with a mix of songs from musicals, movies and Davis' hit records. The quartet's swinging take of "Mr. Lucky" features strong solos by Mabern and Alexander, a working relationship that dates back to the dawn of the tenor saxophonist's career two decades earlier.

One of several excellent hard bop pianists from the Memphis area, Harold Mabern has led relatively few dates through the years, but he has always been respected by his contemporaries. He played in Chicago with MJT + 3 in the late '50s and then moved to New York in 1959. Mabern worked with Jimmy Forrest, Lionel Hampton, the Jazztet (1961-1962), Donald Byrd, Miles Davis (1963), J.J. Johnson (1963-1965), Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, Joe Williams (1966-1967), and Sarah Vaughan. During 1968-1970, Mabern led four albums for Prestige, he was with Lee Morgan in the early '70s, and in 1972, he recorded with Stanley Cowell's Piano Choir.

For a time in the early 1990s, some of the CDs from the Japanese DIW label were made available domestically through Columbia. This trio date by pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Jack DeJohnette has Mabern originals dedicated to Sonny Stitt and Wayne Shorter, plus some offbeat standards and a pair of rarely performed John Coltrane tunes ("Straight Street" and "Crescent"). The interplay between the musicians is impressive and Mabern is heard throughout in excellent form. He closes the set with a piano solo that he titled "Apab and Others," after Art Tatum, Phineas Newborn, Ahmad Jamal and Bud Powell. This will be a difficult CD to find.

Harold Mabern was nearing his 57th birthday around the time of the two 1993 studio sessions that provided the music for this Japanese release; he's clearly in a mood to celebrate, as the CD begins with a driving hard bop original, "Look on the Bright Side," powered by his aggressive risk-taking playing and fueled by a lower key solo by young bassist Christian McBride and a series of powerful drum breaks by seasoned veteran Jack DeJohnette. Although Mabern's arrangement of John Coltrane's "Moment's Notice" is enjoyable, it is because the rhythm simulates a jaunty stroll while the leader unleashes some pyrotechnics. Likewise, Charlie Parker's "Au Privave" is never rushed, but executed with finesse.