Harold Mabern

Harold Mabern: Mabern Plays Coltrane

by Mike Jurkovic
November 27, 2021

As is too often the case, we gain more and more respect and insight into an artist after he or she has passed away. Harold Mabern may have been overshadowed by many of his peers but he remained true to himself: bringing to the music a Memphis-bred hard bop blues and flourishing as both sought after sideman and impish, emphatic leader. Mabern never let you forget that, by all accounts, he was a generous, joyous man who reveled ...

Lee Morgan: The Complete Live at the Lighthouse

by Mike Jurkovic
July 26, 2021

Suffice to say that if Blue Note's original Live at The Lighthouse (1970) lit a fire under you and all the subsequent expanded iterations did nothing to douse said flames, this definitive final word on a very good thing is going to grab your attention fast and hold it hard. Fourteen previously unreleased whirlwind turns around the bandstand complete the picture painted that July weekend in California when trumpeter supreme Lee Morgan and his pirate quintet—Bennie Maupin on ...

Roy Brooks: Understanding

by Angelo Leonardi
July 26, 2021

Il doppio compact di Roy Brooks pubblicato da qualche giorno (anche in lussuoso triplo vinile e in versione digitale) non è solo un tributo a uno dei massimi batteristi dei decenni sessanta/ottanta. Registrato il 1° novembre 1970 a Baltimora, presenta uno dei concerti più esaltanti del jazz contemporaneo, un hard bop intriso d'avanguardia—in particolare John Coltrane—che si sviluppa con intensità febbrile per due ore. Il merito va al misconosciuto batterista di Detroit e al suo quintetto comprendente Woody Shaw alla ...

Roy Brooks: Understanding

by Pierre Giroux
July 17, 2021

Roy Brooks was a preeminent hard-bop drummer who early on participated in seminal recording dates led by Horace Silver, Yusef Lateef and Sonny Stitt. In this release entitled Understanding, produced by Cory Weeds and Zev Feldman for Reel To Real Records, Brooks is documented live by The Left Bank Jazz Society at The Famous Ballroom in Baltimore on November 1, 1970. The limited-edition 180 gram 3-LP gatefold set of previously unreleased material, features a stellar band including trumpeter Woody Shaw, ...

Leon Lee Dorsey: Thank You Mr. Mabern!

by Mike Jurkovic
February 26, 2021

He's studied classical double bass with Ron Carter and he's played alongside many of our most revered, among them Lionel Hampton, Art Blakey, andCassandra Wilson. Still, bassist/composer/arrangerLeon Lee Dorsey's name doesn't roll off everyone lips when discussing the top ranks of today's foremost, fearless bassists. But here's breaking news: Dorsey's got himself one hell of a rakin' and scrapin' new album spotlighting, God bless his good heart, the late Harold Mabern, sitting in two months before his passing in September ...

Harold Mabern: Mabern Plays Mabern

by Mike Jurkovic
March 18, 2020

A tad more subdued than the barn-burning The Iron Man: Live At Smoke (Smoke Sessions Records, 2019), Mabern Plays Mabern still manages to jump full throttle from where that defining recording left us, with a lush, lyrical intensity and a vital, legacy-culling energy which plays as an exquisite coda to the pianist's long, outstanding career. Alive with the same stylist's intuition and unbridled spirit which found him cutting through the ranks with such contemporaries as Charles Lloyd and ...

Hank Mobley: The Complete Hank Mobley Blue Note Sessions 1963-70

by C. Andrew Hovan
March 8, 2020

The music world has changed considerably since Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie founded their boutique reissue label Mosaic Records back in 1983. From its inception, vinyl was still the preferred format, shortly to be overtaken by the popularity of the compact disc. At the cusp of vinyl's recent resurgence, Mosaic briefly got back into that format only to find themselves on the brink of closing up shop. Fortunately, the powers that be have forged on and recent CD boxed sets ...

Celebrated Bassist and Producer Leon Lee Dorsey Announces the Release of 'Thank You, Mr. Mabern!,' A Trio Recording Featuring The Late Jazz Luminary Harold Mabern

Source: Lydia Liebman Promotions
February 2, 2021

Leon Lee Dorsey is pleased to announce the release of Thank You, Mr. Mabern! Recorded in July 2019, two months prior to the passing of jazz luminary Harold Mabern, the album is the swan song for the great pianist and composer, his final recording. This posthumous release is not only Dorsey’s personal farewell to Mabern, it also echoes the sentiments of jazz fans everywhere in appreciation for Mabern’s prolific 60 years. Mabern appears here in top-form and is joined by ...
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Harold Mabern: 1936-2019

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 23, 2019

Harold Mabern, a pianist who came relatively late to prominence but quickly carved out space as a hard-bop and soul-jazz legend, died September 17. He was 83. Born in Memphis, Tenn., Mabern was self-taught and came under the sway of local jazz pianist Phineas Newborn Jr. In 1954 he moved to Chicago, where he began recording with saxophonist Frank Strozier. He also was friend with Memphis saxophonists George Coleman and Booker Little. After moving to New York in 1959, Mabern ...
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Harold Mabern: Pisces Calling

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 13, 2018

Pianist Harold Mabern has been known for his sideman work. In the 1960s and '70s, he was on Hank Mobley's Dippin', Lee Morgan's The Gigolo, Jackie McLean's Consequence, Blue Mitchell's Bring It Home to Me, Gene Ammons's The Black Cat and Stanley Turrentine's Don't Mess With Mr. T to name a few. Starting in 1968, Mabern also began recording leadership albums with horn players such as George Coleman, Blue Mitchell, Virgil Jones, Lee Morgan, Hubert Laws, among others. Then in ...
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Nov 3 - Matt Jorgensen East/West Quartet with Eric Alexander and Harold Mabern

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene
October 26, 2011

Seattle Jazz Scene Presents: MATT JORGENSEN EAST/WEST QUARTET

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3—EGAN'S BALLARD JAM HOUSE

From New York: Eric Alexander—tenor saxophone Harold Mabern—piano

From Seattle: Chuck Deardorf - bass Matt Jorgensen—drums

Passing through town on their way for a weekend engagement in Vancouver, BC, saxophonist Eric Alexander and pianist Harold Mabern stop in Seattle for an intimate performance at Egan's Ballard Jam House with Seattle bassist Chuck Deardorf and ...
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Mabern Moments

Source: Ken Franckling's Jazz Notes
December 14, 2009

I had a fascinating conversation with Harold Mabern last weekend in conjunction with the pianist's appearance at the Jazz Standard in mid-January as part of the George Coleman quartet. He's been a regular in Coleman's band for more than 30 years - and they went to high school together in Memphis. Mabern's comments will be a feature profile in HotHouse magazine's January issue. I will post a link when the article is available online. Suffice it to say, Mabern had ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Harold Mabern

Source: Michael Ricci
March 20, 2009

All About Jazz is celebrating Harold Mabern's birthday today!

JAZZ MUSICIAN OF THE DAY Harold Mabern

Harold Mabern (born March 20, 1936 in Memphis, Tennessee) is a hard bop pianist. Early in his career, Mabern played in Chicago with MJT + 3 in the late 1950s and then moved to New York in 1959. Mabern has worked with Jimmy Forrest... more

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Jamie Cullum, Hilton Ruiz, Harold Mabern Added To Newport Jazz Festival Lineup

Source: All About Jazz
June 28, 2004

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