Giants of Jazz 22 Honoring Harold Mabern

We recently received word that Harold Mabern passed away on September 17, 2019. We are saddened by the death of this legendary Jazz great. The Giants of Jazz performance on November 16 will be a tribute to the life and work of Mr. Mabern. We hope you will join us as Jazz musicians from the region gather to honor one of their own through the music that was Harold Mabern’s life.

Harold Mabern was one of the greatest Jazz pianists in the world. Join us as the following Jazz greats come to perform and honor one of their own in an unforgettable evening of music.

Eric Alexander
Tommy Campbell
Bill Charlap
Cyrus Chestnut
Jimmy Cobb
George Coleman
Steve Davis
Mike DiRubbo
Joe Farnsworth
Roberta Gambarini
Louis Hayes
David Hazeltine
Freddie Hendrix
Vincent Herring
Vic Juris
Mike LeDonne
Russell Malone
T.S. Monk
Jeb Patton
Jeremy Pelt
Nat Reeves
Rufus Reid
Claudio Roditi
Nana Sakamoto
Dave Stryker
Peter Washington
John Webber
& more to be announced!

Harold Mabern was a Hard Bop and Soul Jazz pianist who was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee – a city that’s a capital of 20th century American music. Like fellow Memphis Jazz artists George Coleman, Booker Little and Frank Strozier, Mabern attended Manassas High School and after an early attempt at playing the drums, he taught himself piano and fell under the spell of pianist Phineas Newborn Jr., an influence that would shape and linger with Mabern for the rest of his life.

Along with some other Memphis musicians, Mabern moved to Chicago in in 1954 where he soon found work backing up tenor sax players Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons and Clifford Jordon. He also gained further influence from studying with pianist Ahmad Jamal and played in the Hard Bop group MJT + 3, before going on to New York City in 1959. “Chicago gave me the stuff I needed—and the confidence,” he recalled in 1987. “New York refined my stuff and it’s still doing it.”

One of his earliest significant gigs was an 18-month stay with Art Farmer and Benny Golson’s Jazztet. After the Jazztet disbanded, Mabern worked with Jimmy Forrest, Lionel Hampton, Donald Byrd and did a brief stint with Miles Davis in 1963. He worked with J.J. Johnson (1963-65), Lee Morgan (1965) and Hank Mobley- recording the album, Dippin’. Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Williams (1966-67) Mabern also played in a quartet with guitarist Wes Montgomery.

Between 1968-70, Mabern led four albums for Prestige, the first being A Few Miles From Memphis with a lineup that featured two saxophonists, one of them fellow Memphis native George Coleman. As the 1970s began, Harold Mabern became a key member of Lee Morgan’s working group and appeared on several live and studio recordings made by the trumpeter before his death in 1972.In 1971, he played on Stanley Turrentine’s The Sugar Man and Don’t Mess With Mr. T. album in 1973. In 1972 he recorded with Stanley Cowell’s Piano Choir.

In more recent years, he toured and recorded extensively with his former William Paterson University student, the tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander. Mabern and Alexander appeared on over twenty CDs together. A longtime faculty member at William Paterson University since 1981, Mabern was also a frequent instructor at the Stanford Jazz Workshop.

Harold Mabern recorded as a leader for DIW/Columbia and Sackville and toured with the Contemporary Piano Ensemble (1993-1995).

Giants of Jazz is presented by SOPAC & John Lee.

If you or a member of your party is in need of assistance please notify SOPAC at the time your tickets are purchased. The SOPAC Box Office can be reached at (973) 313-2787.