''Mabern Plays Mabern'' is an album by pianist

Harold Mabern Harold Mabern Jr. (March 20, 1936 – September 17, 2019) was an American jazz pianist and composer, principally in the hard bop, post-bop, and soul jazz fields.Feather, Leonard; Gitler, Ira (2007) ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz''. p. 42 ...

. It was recorded in 2018 and released by

Smoke Sessions Records Smoke Sessions Records is an independent record label based in New York City. History Smoke (jazz club), Smoke jazz club started the label in 2014.Hovan, C. Andrew (April 23, 2014"Smoke Sessions: A Threesome from Herring, Jackson, & Hazeltine" Al ...

Recording and music

The sextet contained

(piano), Eric Alexander (tenor sax),

Vincent Herring Vincent Dwayne Herring (born November 19, 1964) is an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, composer, and educator. Known for his fiery and soulful playing in the bands of Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, and Nat Adderley in the earlier stages of h ...

(alto sax),

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he rea ...

(trombone),

John Webber John Webber (6 October 1751 – 29 May 1793) was an English artist who accompanied Captain Cook on his third Pacific expedition. He is best known for his images of Australasia, Hawaii and Alaska. Biography Webber was born in London, educated ...

(bass), and

Joe Farnsworth Joseph Allen Farnsworth (born February 21, 1968, Holyoke, Massachusetts) is an American jazz drummer. Farnsworth was one of five sons born to trumpeter and bandleader Roger Farnsworth; one of the brothers played saxophone in Ray Charles Ra ...

(drums). The album was recorded in concert at

Smoke Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product ...

jazz club in New York on January 5–7, 2018. It was produced by Paul Stache and Damon Smith. Mabern wrote all except two of the compositions: Alexander's "The Iron Man", and "

Lover Man "Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)" (often called simply "Lover Man") is a 1941 popular song written by Jimmy Davis, Roger ("Ram") Ramirez, and James Sherman. It is particularly associated with Billie Holiday, for whom it was written, and her ...

". "Mr. Johnson" is a modal piece dedicated to trombonist

J. J. Johnson J.J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop. Biograph ...

. "Edward Lee" refers to trumpeter

Lee Morgan Edward Lee Morgan (July 10, 1938 – February 19, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. One of the key hard bop musicians of the 1960s, Morgan came to prominence in his late teens, recording on John Coltrane's '' Blue Train'' (1 ...

, with whom Mabern played; it first appeared on the pianist's '' Pisces Calling'', as did "Lyrical Cole-Man".

Release and reception

The album was released by

on March 20, 2020. Some reviewers compared it with '' The Iron Man: Live at Smoke'', which was recorded during the same set of concert appearances, but released earlier. ''

DownBeat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' wrote that ''Mabern Plays Mabern'' "burns a bit brighter than its predecessor", and credited the addition of Herring and Davis for the change. The

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

reviewer, in contrast, believed that the album was "a tad more subdued" than its predecessor.

Track listing

#"Mr. Johnson" #"The Iron Man" #"

" #"Lyrical Cole-Man" #"Edward Lee" #"It's Magic" #"The Beehive" #"Rakin' and Scrapin'" Source:

Personnel

– piano * Eric Alexander – tenor sax *

– alto sax *

– trombone *

– bass *

– drums

References

{{Harold Mabern, state=autocollapse Harold Mabern albums Smoke Sessions Records live albums