''Mabern's Grooveyard'' 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. 4 ...

. It was recorded in 1996 and released by

DIW Records DIW Records is a Japanese record label specializing in avant-garde jazz. It is a subsidiary of Disk Union. Kazunori Sugiyama was an executive producer for the label before starting Tzadik Records with John Zorn. DIW's name stands for "Discs in t ...

two years later.

Recording and music

The album was recorded on August 20 and 21, 1996, at

Avatar Studios Power Station at BerkleeNYC, formerly known as Avatar Studios (1996–2017) and Power Station, is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The bui ...

in New York. It was produced by James Williams and Kazunori Sugiyama. The personnel are

(piano),

Christian McBride Christian McBride (born May 31, 1972) is an American jazz bassist, composer and arranger. He has appeared on more than 300 recordings as a sideman, and is an eight-time Grammy Award winner. McBride has performed and recorded with a number of j ...

(bass), and

Tony Reedus Tony Reedus (22 September 1959 – 16 November 2008) was an American jazz drummer. Reedus first gained attention performing in Woody Shaw's band during the 1980s. He played with Dave Stryker, Mulgrew Miller, Art Blakey, Mike Nock, Kenny Garre ...

(drums). The material is "a set of off-the-beaten track tunes", plus "AON", an original. The first three tracks "progress in tempo and feeling from medium groove to hurtling groove". Mabern plays "Jeanine" "with pulsing, light-fingered percussiveness, from the treble repeat in the head through a riff-laden and unusually fitting fade-out". "East of the Sun" has a bossa nova arrangement.

Release and reception

''Mabern's Grooveyard'' was released by

in 1998. In that year, critic

Gary Giddins Gary Giddins is an American jazz critic and author. He wrote for ''The Village Voice'' from 1973; his "Weather Bird" column ended in 2003. In 1986 Gary Giddins and John Lewis created the American Jazz Orchestra which presented concerts using a j ...

wrote of Mabern's album that it was "perhaps his most satisfying to date".

Track listing

#"Grooveyard" #"Ladybird" #"Jeanine" #"A Hundred Years from Today" #"Minority" #"After Hours" #"East of the Sun" #"AON" #"Bubbles, Bangles & Beads"

Personnel

– piano *

– bass *

– drums

References

{{Authority control 1998 albums DIW Records albums Harold Mabern albums