Harold Mabern Trio - Somewhere Over The Rainbow (2007) [2018 SACD]

Harold Mabern was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1936 and spent some of his early years in Chicago before moving to New York in the early 1960s. There he began to work with Lionel Hampton, Art Farmer's Jazztet and J.J. Johnson. Mabern has accompanied many vocalists including Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan, Dakota Staton, Irene Reid and Arthur Prysock. He's also worked with Roland Kirk, Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Roy Haynes, Wes Montgomery, Clark Terry, Billy Harper, Joe Newman and George Coleman.

In an interview with All About Jazz, Mabern discussed his tribute to Harold Arlen saying, "I've always studied him because his music is very bluesy. And you don't really have to do anything to his music but just go ahead and play it. I don't think he sat down and said, 'I'm gonna be bluesy', it's just that the music came out that way."

"Harold Mabern is one of a number of American jazz artists who have developed a strong following in Japan, resulting in regular opportunities to record for the Japanese Venus label. This trio date with bassist Dwayne Burno and drummer Willie Jones III (the latter sticking mainly to brushes) covers ten songs from the vast Harold Arlen songbook, though not all of them are well-known standards. Mabern's bouncing, breezy opener is a fun-filled take of 'Over the Rainbow,' followed by a gospel-inflected soul-jazz treatment of 'A Sleepin' Bee' that prominently features Burno. His blues-drenched take of 'Blues in the Night' is harmonically rich, while Mabern's jovial treatment of 'I've Got the World on a String' swings like mad. The pianist adds a hip Latin vamp to introduce a soul-jazz-infused arrangement of 'This Time the Dream's on Me.' 'Savannah' is not one of Arlen's better-known tunes, but Mabern's chart sets it up as a calypso before seguing into hard bop, with Jones getting several breaks on sticks." — AllMusic

Tracks:

01. Somewhere Over The Rainbow
02. A Sleeping Bee
03. Blues In The Night
04. Out Of This World
05. Savanna
06. Hooray For Love
07. Stormy Weather
08. I've Got The World On A String
09. The Man That Got Away
10. This Time The Dream's On Me

all songs by Harold Arlen

Personnel:

Harold Mabern - piano
Dwayne Burno - bass
Willie Jones Ⅲ - drums