Harold Mabern - Mabern Plays Coltrane (December 2021 Smoke Sessions Records)

MABERN PLAYS COLTRANE, a vibrant live recording of Harold Mabern performing the music of John Coltrane with an all-star sextet including Eric Alexander, Vincent Herring, Steve Davis, John Webber, and Joe Farnsworth.

Mabern held a special reverence for John Coltrane. “He was very influential in my life and my playing, too,” Mabern once said. “After being around him and seeing what a great human being he was – man, I wish the whole world could have known John Coltrane.”

MABERN PLAYS COLTRANE is culled from the final three-nights of a three-week residency at Smoke’s annual year ending John Coltrane Festival that started in 2017 ended with these performances that Mabern and the band played in January 2018. The resulting recordings also produced two earlier albums: THE IRON MAN, which shined a spotlight on Mabern the performer and interpreter and offered a glimpse into a typical evening’s performance and MABERN PLAYS MABERN, which commemorated Mabern’s gifts as a composer and followed his untimely death at age 83 on September 17, 2019. Mabern Plays Coltrane is the album that was originally planned for those live recording sessions. Mabern had always played a key role in the festival since its inaugural edition in 2011. From the initial weeklong fest through its later three- and four-week incarnations, Mabern was the headliner for much of the annual run, an indication of both his appreciation for Coltrane as a forbear and mentor as well as his own vital role at Smoke.

“Playing John Coltrane's music with Harold was like tapping into the source,” says Farnsworth. “He was like the vortex, and it all flowed through him. It was intense. Having Harold on the stage, given how much he loved John Coltrane, it elevated the spirit of the music tenfold.” 

1. Dahomey Dance 07:13

2. Blue Train 10:42

3. Impressions 09:41

4. Dear Lord 05:36

5. My Favorite Things 11:47

6. Naima 09:09

7. Straight Street 10:51

Harold Mabern - piano

Vincent Herring - alto saxophone

Eric Alexander - tenor saxophone

Steve Davis - trombone

John Webber - bass

Joe Farnsworth - drums

Recorded Live January 5, 6 & 7, 2018 at SMOKE, NYC

Produced by Paul Stache & Damon Smith

Recorded by Paul Stache with Owen Mulholland & Jeff Citron

Mixed & Mastered by Chris Allen

Photography by Jimmy & Dena Katz

Design by Damon Smith & Paul Stache

All compositions by John Coltrane

except “My Favorite Things” by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II

“Dear Lord” was previously included on The Iron Man: Live at Smoke

Eric Alexander appears courtesy of HighNote Records

Executive Producers: Paul Stache & Molly Johnson

PRE ORDER

Roy Brooks - Understanding (July 23, 2021 Cellar Live)

Understanding, a blazing 1970 concert recording featuring the Detroit-born master percussionist Roy Brooks leading a gifted quintet through its spirited paces at Baltimore’s Famous Ballroom, will be released by Cellar Music Group's archival imprint, Reel to Real Recordings on July 17 as a limited edition 3 LP set exclusively at independent record stores for Record Store Day and as on 2 CDs/digital on July 23.

Comprising more than two hours of expansive performances averaging 20 minutes in length, the potent date was recorded by Left Bank Jazz Society and stars trumpeter Woody Shaw, tenor saxophonist Carlos Garnett, pianist Harold Mabern, and bassist Cecil McBee.

All proceeds from the release — produced with the cooperation of McBee and Garnett and the estates of Brooks, Mabern, and Shaw — will go directly to the Detroit Sound Conservancy, a non-profit organization founded in 2012 and devoted to the preservation, education, conservation, and place keeping of the Motor City’s musical heritage.

Born in 1938, Roy Brooks is perhaps best known as a sideman. He spent five years with pianist Horace Silver’s storied hard bop combo, appearing on the popular Song for My Father, and also worked behind Chet Baker, Yusef Lateef, and Charles Mingus, and alongside Max Roach in the percussion ensemble M’Boom.

Beyond his formidable, gale-force attack on the traps, Brooks — who died in his hometown in 2005 — delighted audiences with flights on the musical saw (heard on the present recording) and even invented a device, the “breath-a-tone,” with which he could change the pitch of his drums as he played. Sadly, the musician’s career was thrown off track in later years by severe mental illness. But the Famous Ballroom date displays him at the height of his considerable powers.

In his comprehensive liner notes for the collection, historian Mark Stryker, author of Jazz from Detroit (University of Michigan Press, 2019), writes that Understanding “shines a long-overdue spotlight on Brooks. A product of Detroit’s mid-century jazz explosion, Brooks was a deeply swinging drummer of uncommon creativity, flexibility, fire and conceptual imagination.”

Led off by a 42-minute performance encompassing the Brooks-composed prelude and title track, Understanding roars through compositions by Shaw (“Zoltan,” first heard on organist Larry Young’s 1965 classic Unity) and Garnett (“Taurus Woman”) and a furious take on Charlie Parker’s “Billie’s Bounce” before an involved, vocal audience. Projected at a fever pitch, the music operates on the cusp between the ‘60s quintet innovations of Miles Davis (whose “The Theme” closes the gig) and the free-form explorations of John Coltrane and his acolytes.

Understanding is filled out by intimate written remembrances by a pair of Brooks’ classmates at Detroit’s Northwestern High School, journalist Herb Boyd and alto saxophonist Charles McPherson. 

1. Introduction 00:25

2. Prelude To Understanding 21:34

3. Understanding 20:10

4. Billie's Bounce 21:06

5. Zoltan 23:18

6. Taurus Woman 32:25

7. The Theme 04:31

Roy Brooks – drums

Carlos Garnett – tenor saxophone

Woody Shaw - trumpet

Harold Mabern – piano

Cecil McBee – bass

Recorded Live at The Famous Ballroom in Baltimore, MD on November 1, 1970

Produced for release by CORY WEEDS and ZEV FELDMAN

Executive Producer: RAYMON TORCHINKSY

Associate Producer: RAYMON TORCHINKSY and JOHN FOWLER

Project Assistance: ZAK SHELBY-SZYSZKO

Sound Restoration by CHRIS GESTRIN

Original Recording Engineer: VERNON WELSH

Cover Photo by BOB CRAWFORD

Art Direction and design: JOHN SELLARDS

Album Package Editor: SHARON MCINNIS

Production Manager: CORY WEEDS

Photo Research: ZEV FELDMAN and CORY WEEDS

Extra special thanks to Carlos Garnett, Cecil McBee and Raheem Brooks.

Dedicated to the memories of Roy Brooks, Woody Shaw and Harold Mabern

Pre-order

Harold Mabern - The Iron Man: Live at Smoke (SMOKE SESSIONS RECORDS November 23, 2018)

Jazz Master Harold Mabern Swings Through

an Extraordinary Life in Music During

One Memorable Night On Stage at Smoke

The Iron Man: Live at Smoke Flashes Back to

Favorite Songs From the Pianist’s Renowned Career

Double Disc Set Available November 23

on Smoke Sessions Records

Release Performances December 17 – January 6

at New York City’s Smoke Jazz & Supper Club

While it was captured over the course a single night, there’s a rich lifetime’s worth of music packed into The Iron Man: Live at Smoke. If it’s a slight overstatement to say that the album represents an autobiography in song, that’s only because 82-year-old jazz master Harold Mabern tells his story in every note that he plays. That’s as true of the melodies he’s been interpreting for more then half a century – as many of the tunes on The Iron Man are – as it is of the always inspired music that flows spontaneously from the great pianist’s fingers.

The Iron Man, due out November 23 via Smoke Sessions Records, was recorded on the final night of a remarkable three-week residency, an annual holiday tradition at the renowned New York City club. Most of that 2017/18 run was dedicated to the music of John Coltrane and featured a host of invited guests to the bandstand. For this magical final performance, however, Mabern and his gifted, longstanding quartet – tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, bassist John Webber, and drummer Joe Farnsworth – went it alone, vigorously swinging through well-loved tunes from throughout Mabern’s storied career.

The night kicks off with the rollicking funk of “A Few Miles from Memphis,” the title track from Mabern’s 1968 leader debut. The piece harkens back to Mabern’s vital role as a pioneer of soul jazz alongside collaborators like the great trumpeter Lee Morgan. More importantly, though, it transports the pianist back to his roots in Memphis, Tennessee, where he became entranced by the great jazz and blues innovator Phineas Newborn Jr. The city’s legendary blues traditions took hold of a generation of young musicians; Mabern graduated from Manassas High School, whose alumni also include Charles Lloyd and future Mabern collaborators Booker Little, Frank Strozier, and George Coleman.

Many of those Memphians would reconvene in Chicago in the mid-’50s, which is where Mabern honed his hard bop grooves accompanying such powerhouse tenor titans as Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons and Clifford Jordan. By the end of the decade he had found his way to New York City, where he would soon be an in-demand sideman for many of the most notable leaders of that generation – including Lionel Hampton, Donald Byrd, Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Williams, and Hank Mobley.

Mabern’s tender reading of Benny Golson’s immortal “I Remember Clifford” here, in a trio setting, recalls one of his first important gigs upon arriving in the Big Apple. He spent 18 months with The Jazztet, replacing McCoy Tyner in the influential band co-led by Golson and Art Farmer. The blistering “I Know That You Know” flashes forward to 1965, when Mabern recorded the tune with another hard bop trailblazer, saxophonist Sonny Stitt.

Mabern’s surprising rearrangement of “I Get a Kick Out of You,” meanwhile, is revived from last year’s To Love and Be Loved, an album which reunited him with legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb – who Mabern had first played with half a century earlier in Miles Davis’ band. Mabern’s stint with the iconic trumpeter was brief, but came at a crucial time as Davis was experimenting with the line-up that would finally congeal into his Second Great Quintet. Two earlier veterans of Davis’s storied band – John Coltrane and Paul Chambers — receive a nod with Trane’s classic “Mr. P.C.”

Mabern forged a more lasting bond with Lee Morgan, recording the classic album The Gigolo for Blue Note in 1965 and continuing to play with the trumpet innovator until the night of his tragic death at Slug’s Saloon in 1972. In the meantime, Mabern started recording under his own name, releasing four well-regarded albums for Prestige between 1968-70 whose line-ups included such brilliant improvisers as Morgan, Blue Mitchell, George Coleman, Bill Lee, Hubert Laws, and Idris Muhammad.

On those outings Mabern helped define the fusion of soul and jazz, including contemporary hits like Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” – a penchant echoed on the Smoke bandstand with the quartet’s lovely take on the Michael Jackson ballad “She’s Out of My Life.” He followed a similar route with Stanley Turrentine when he worked with the soulful saxophonist on the early-’70s albums The Sugar Man and Don’t Mess With Mister T.

“Nightlife in Tokyo” is the Mabern-penned title tune from Eric Alexander’s 2002 album, which featured Mabern and Farnsworth along with bassist Ron Carter. It’s one of countless collaborations between the two since Mabern became the saxophonist’s mentor at William Paterson University, where the pianist has been a member of the faculty since 1981.

While he and Alexander have shifted from teacher and student to a partnership that is one of the most meaningful between any saxophonist and pianist in jazz, that’s just one testament to Mabern’s profound influence as an educator, a contribution to jazz on par with that made through his music. The list of Mabern students who have gone on to make their mark include Farnsworth, trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, drummer/composer Tyshawn Sorey, drummers Bill Stewart, Mark Guiliana and Johnathan Blake, and saxophonist Roxy Coss.

The Iron Man draws to a rousing conclusion with another title tune, this one from Mabern’s 1968 sophomore release “Rakin’ and Scrapin’,” which featured George Coleman and trumpet great Blue Mitchell on the frontline. He rerecorded the piece with Lee Morgan on 1970’s Live at the Lighthouse, though the fact that he’s kept his ears wide open in the intervening decades is revealed by the clever quote of Steely Dan’s “Do It Again” that crops up unexpectedly in his solo.


Whether you listen to these two sets as representing a single special evening or 82 memorable years, there’s ample evidence that Harold Mabern deserves to be known as The Iron Man – a powerhouse player, a formative mentor, a revered survivor.

Harold Mabern · The Iron Man: Live at Smoke

Smoke Sessions Records · Release Date: November 23, 2018

haroldmabern.jazzgiants.net

New York All-Stars (feat. Eric Alexander & Harold Mabern) - Burnin' in London (UBUNTU MUSIC September 7, 2018)

"Mabern really is a remarkable talent. At 81, he’s still playing with the passion of a man at least half his age and his ace pupil Eric Alexander continues to grow." Jazzwise

The New York All-Stars feature Eric Alexander on saxophone, Harold Mabern on piano, bassist Darryl Hall and drummer Bernd Reiter.  They play energetic and swinging music on the highest level, presented with the utmost professionalism and uninhibited enthusiasm.

Recorded at the legendary Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho, London on 20 & 21 November 2017, Burnin’ in London, features six classic tunes including Harold Mabern’s own ‘Nightlife in Tokyo’ and a beautiful interpretation of Gershwin’s classic ‘Summertime’.

“The music on this album speaks for itself.  The interplay between Eric and Harold is magical, supported by the rock solid bass lines from Darryl and the exacting rhythmic underpinning of Bernd’s precision-like drumming,” says Martin Hummel, Ubuntu Music Director.  “…the album captures a moment in time when Eric was anchored in his musical sweet spot while the band – and the audience – hung on and coasted with every note along the blissful, energetic journey.”

Eric Alexander - Second Impression (2016) HIGHNOTE RECORDS

It can be argued with some validity that one's overall movement through life is reflected in his creative endeavor, and Eric Alexander's strength and versatility on the saxophone can be viewed from this perspective. At this point in his career, Eric has certainly covered a lot of territory, both literally and figuratively. 

He himself has lost count of how many albums feature his playing; our guess is 100 or more. While he has garnered critical acclaim from every corner, what has mattered most has been to establish his own voice within the illustrious bop-based jazz tradition which is exactly what he does on his latest HighNote release. The close-knit ensemble of a band of regular buddies, coupled with the bass-clef contributions of the extraordinary Bob Cranshaw, make for a listening experience not soon forgotten.

01. Second Impression

02. So Many Stars

03. Blues for Mo

04. Jennie's Dance

05. Secret Love

06. T-Bone Steak

07. Frenzy

08. Everything Happens to Me

09. Full House

Eric Alexander, tenor saxophone

Bob Cranshaw, bass

Harold Mabern, piano, Fender Rhodes

Joe Farnsworth, drums