Harold Mabern - Mabern Plays Mabern

2020 release

It is with a mixture of pride and sorrow that Smoke Sessions Records announces the release of Harold Mabern's Mabern Plays Mabern. Pride because Mabern's 27th recording as a leader, culled from the same three January 2018 nights that generated his 26th, The Iron Man: Live At Smoke, documents the master pianist, then 81, in prime form, functioning as an inspired soloist, attentive accompanist, melodic interpreter, and crafty tunesmith. Sorrow because the release is posthumous - Harold Mabern died on September 17, 2019, at the age of 83.

For the engagement in question, Mabern convened long-standing band-mates Eric Alexander on tenor saxophone, John Webber on bass, and Joe Farnsworth on drums, augmented by Smoke Sessions recording artists Steve Davis on trombone and Vincent Herring on alto saxophone. All members rise to the occasion on repertoire that spans 51 years of Mabern's six decades as a recording artist, leader and sideman.