It's difficult not to break into a smile when hearing
Harold Mabern play piano, as the hard bop stylist has a knack for giving his all as if he were entertaining an audience, even during a studio date. This trio meeting with bassist
Nat Reeves and drummer
Joe Farnsworth finds
Mabern covering a lot of styles, including a few surprising choices. He takes
Peter Brown's disco hit "Dance with Me" into new ground with a brisk arrangement incorporating funk, Latin, and driving post-bop.
Jesse Harris' soft ballad "Don't Know Why" was a huge hit for singer/pianist
Norah Jones on her platinum-selling CD
Come Away with Me, though
Mabern infuses it with a brighter tempo and a bit of country flavor, plus just a hint of gospel. For most jazz musicians, it's hard to avoid a modal approach to "My Favorite Things" since
John Coltrane reworked it into that setting;
Mabern follows that path but does his best to avoid outright cloning of
McCoy Tyner's technique in
Coltrane's historic recording, though total avoidance is impossible. The pianist's potent originals include the hard-driving, gospel-flavored "Edward Lee" and the tense, infectious "Nightlife in Tokyo."
Reeves and
Farnsworth excel in their support of
Mabern, though the hard-charging pianist is practically a one-man band with his boundless energy.