Harold Mabern: Mr. Lucky, Tribute To Sammy Davis J

Harold Mabern

Harold Mabern, one of jazz's most enduring and dazzlingly skilled pianists and a long-time HighNote sideman, steps into the spotlight as a leader on this recording full of high spirits, driving energy and great jazz. Hailing from Memphis, a city that produced saxophonists George Coleman and Charles Lloyd, trumpeter Booker Little and pianist Phineas Newborn, Jr. Mabern started out as a drummer but switched to piano, keeping that rhythmic drive in his keyboard technique. During his over half-century on the scene as sideman and leader, he has played with such greats as Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, Blue Mitchell and Sarah Vaughan. On Mr. Lucky: A Tribute to Sammy Davis Jr., accompanied by his long-time colleague Eric Alexander, Mabern romps and stomps through an interesting repertoire of songs associated with Davis, for whose musicianship and humanity the pianist has a great deal of respect and admiration. This is Mabern's first recording as a leader for HighNote Records.