Harold Mabern - 3 Albums (2008-2013)

Harold Mabern, Jr. (born March 20, 1936) is an American jazz pianist and composer, principally in the hard bop, post-bop, and soul jazz fields. He is described in The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings as "one of the great post-bop pianists". Mabern's piano style has been described as being "aggressive, very positive, crashing out chords that drop like pile drivers and warming up and down the keyboard with huge, whooping bursts of action", while, at the same time, he shows "a keen sensitivity" as "an extremely perceptive accompanist". Critic Gary Giddins has identified some of the characteristics of Mabern's playing as being "blues glisses, […] tremolos and dissonant block chords", that help to create a style "that marries McCoy Tyner's clustering modality with rippling asides that stem from [Art] Tatum". The influence of Phineas Newborn, Jr. remains noticeable: Mabern employs Newborn's "manner of playing fast lines in a two-handed octave (or two-octave) unison, and uses this device in wildly imaginative ways". When accompanying vocalists, Mabern states that he plays with "less force, less aggression. I use the soft pedal. You don't voice the chord with the leading tone. You wait for them to sing a phrase, then fill in the space."



Harold Mabern is one of many American jazz artists who have found a lucrative market for their recordings in Japan. This solo piano date is one of his very best efforts, opening with a hard-driving take of Bobby Timmons' hard bop masterpiece "Dat Dere," then following it with a thoughtful rendition George Shearing's unjustly obscure ballad "She." The pianist's breezy hard bop treatment of "You Don't Know What Love Is" makes one forget that it began life as a bittersweet ballad. Mabern's upbeat performance of Quincy Jones' "Wail Bait" provokes memories of Bud Powell when he was healthy. Erroll Garner's "Misty" has long been one of the most requested tunes in night club settings, though Mabern's percussive setting is quite different from the usual low-key approach. Mabern also includes a pair of originals, including his brisk "Mabern's Boogie, which would have been right at home during the genre's heyday, along with his dazzling, hard-charging "Wayne's Blues." ~ AllMusic Review by Ken Dryden

Harold Mabern (piano)

Track List:
1 Dat Dere (B. Timmons) 4:52
2 She (Shearing) 4:31
3 Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Kern) 4:14
4 Mabern's Boogie (Mabern) 2:32
5 The Way We Were (Hamlisch) 5:10
6 Unforgetable (Gordon) 4:19
7 You Don't Know What Love Is (Raye/De Paul/DePaul) 3:51
8 A Child Is Born (Jones) 5:18
9 Wail Bait (Jones) 3:45
10 Stolen Moments (Nelson) 4:18
11 Wayne's Blues (Mabern) 3:59
12 Misty (Garner) 4:54





The very best thing about the smalls-LIVE series is how these recordings recreate the visceral experience of Smalls, the hang itself. Engineer (and celebrated jazz photographer) Jimmy Katz comes up close on every instrument—appropriate for a club with 60 seats—but also lets in the applause, the tinkling glasses, the night air. One caveat: The fades of applause and announcements are unfortunate production decisions. They interfere with the fantasy that you are there.

Harold Mabern (piano)
John Webber (bass)
Joe Farnsworth (drums)

Track List:
01 Alone Together
02 I'm Walking
03 Dreaming
04 Road Song
05 Boogie For Al McShann
06 Sesame Street
07 Afro Blue





Any day that you get to hear jazz pianist Harold Mabern is a great day, and on his new release, Right On Time, you get two of those days with his trio distilled into one irresistible record. This recording was made on weekend of his 77th birthday party and the extra energy on these tracks is unmistakable. They revel in the complete Mabern experience, delivering everything from classic blues and swinging standards to delicate ballads and modal tempests.

Harold Mabern (piano)
John Webber (bass)
Joe Farnsworth (drums)

Track List:
01 Dance with Me
02 Seven Steps to Heaven
03 Don't Get Around Much Anymore
04 My Favorite Things
05 To You
06 Edward Lee
07 Making Our Dreams Come True
08 Charade
09 Blues for Frank 'n' Paul 'n' All
10 The Nearness of You
11 Cherokee


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