It isn't hard to understand why
Eric Alexander has employed acoustic pianist
Harold Mabern on more than a few of his albums. The big-toned tenor saxophonist has enjoyed a strong rapport with his former teacher, and that rapport is very much in evidence on
Revival of the Fittest.
Alexander employs
Mabern on almost every song on this 2009 recording; the exception is
Alexander's contemplative "Yasashiku (Gently)," which finds
Alexander performing a tenor/piano duet with
Mike LeDonne. But
Alexander features
Mabern on every other track, and the two of them form a cohesive acoustic quartet with bassist
Nat Reeves and drummer
Joe Farnsworth. One has high expectations when
Alexander and
Mabern get together; they don't let us down on a hard bop/post-bop CD that ranges from inspired performances of
George Coleman's "Revival,"
Ivan Lins' "The Island," and
Michel Legrand's "You Must Believe in Spring" to two
Mabern pieces that the pianist previously recorded on albums of his own (the driving "Too Late Fall Back Baby" and the
Phineas Newborn, Jr.-dedicated "Blues for Phineas"). Ballads have long been one of
Alexander's strong points, and he reminds us how expressive a ballad player he can be on Marvin Fisher's "Love-Wise" (which
Nat King Cole made famous with a
Nelson Riddle-arranged recording in 1958).
Alexander's performance of "Love-Wise" recalls
John Coltrane's hard bop period of the late ‘50s, when he was recording for Prestige;
Trane gave us some delightfully lyrical recordings of ballads during his pre-Atlantic period (including "Stardust," "Lush Life," and "Invitation"), and
Alexander acknowledges Prestige-era
Trane on "Love-Wise" but does so without allowing his own personality to become obscured.
Revival of the Fittest is yet another example of how rewarding an
Alexander album can be when
Mabern is on board. ~ Alex Henderson