By Terry Perkins
It seems appropriate that pianist Harold Mabern is the "middle man" in terms of jazz tradition in the Bebop Generations lineup. Cecil Payne, who turns 78 later this year, made his first recording in 1946 at a time when bebop was beginning to revolutionize jazz. The younger members of the group -- Eric Alexander, Joe Farnsworth and John Webber -- are all in their early 30s, and are working to carry on the hard bop tradition.
The 64-year-old Mabern started his professional career toward the end of the 1950s, when bop still ruled the jazz scene, but major changes loomed on the horizon. Jazz would face major challenges from the energetic rise of rock and R&B in the 1960s and through the '70s. Many jazz artists ended up moving toward a musical fusion that incorporated rock and other styles into jazz. Others, like Mabern, understood the need to keep the jazz tradition going -- while still recognizing the relationships between jazz and blues-based R&B.
"Maybe it's because I come from Memphis," explains Mabern. "There were some fine jazz musicians in Memphis, like Phineas Newborn, Jr., who I've always said was a musical genius. But if you wanted to make a living as a jazz musician in Memphis, you were also forced to play rhythm and blues music. At the time, we all thought it was taking away from our time with jazz. But now I realize what a joy it was. It takes a special kind of feel that all great improvisers like Charlie Parker and Clifford brown understood. In fact, I think of myself as a blues pianist who understands jazz."
Mabern, who was born in Memphis in 1936, grew up at a time when the city was at the center of blues and R&B music. Delta blues musicians like Howlin' Wolf made the trip to Memphis to play in local clubs on Beale Street and record at Sun Studios. A young disc jockey and guitarist named B.B. King was the most popular DJ on Memphis radio, and his music was beginning to make a national impact. And the 1954 recording debut at Sun Studios of a young white musician named Elvis Presley who combined blues feeling with rock chords turned music on its ear.
But throughout this era, jazz managed to hold its own in Memphis, and an aspiring young drummer named Harold Mabern managed to find an affinity for a new instrument -- the piano.
"I lived in North Memphis and went to Douglas High School, and that's where I was learning to play drums in the school band," recalls Mabern. "But I happened to meet Frank Strozier, a saxophone player who was going to Manassas High, studying under Professor Matt Garrett, who was Dee Dee Bridgewater's father. Hank Crawford was also going to Manassas with Frank. Frank told me I ought to transfer to play with him and Hank. About a year-an-a-half later I did, and graduated with Frank.
"I still wasn't playing piano, but I used to go to Frank's house and fool around on the piano there. Then I met a piano player named Charles Thomas, who really got me started on the right track on piano. And he was the one who introduced me to Phineas Newborn, Jr."
Newborn, who possessed an amazing technique and could play double octave runs on the keyboard with amazing speed, became a lifelong influence on Mabern. Although Newborn never gained the acclaim he deserved as a pianist during his own lifetime, the efforts of Mabern and other Memphis-born pianists such as James Williams and Donald Brown continue to advance Newborn's contributions to jazz.
"Phineas was a true genius," comments Mabern. "It's a word that's overused, but there's no doubt he was one. And when I moved to Chicago and then New York City and saw that his music wasn't getting the recognition it deserved, it made me determined to put everything I had into my music every time I played."
Mabern moved to Chicago at the age of 18, and began playing with musicians such as Johnny Griffin, Ahmad Jamal, Gene Ammons and Clifford Jordan. He made his recording debut soon after with a group called MJT+3 -- a band that at one time included Memphis friends such as Strozier and sax player George Coleman.
In 1959, Mabern decided it was time to make the move to New York, and an encounter with Cannonball Adderley at a club turned into his first big break in the Big Apple.
"At Birdland I saw Cannonball, who I knew from Chicago, and he took me downstairs and introduced me to Harry "Sweets" Edison," recalls Mabern. "I played a little, and it turned out to be an audition, though I didn't know it at the time. It seems Tommy Flanagan was leaving Harry's band and he needed a new piano player. I got the job, and then had a chance to sit in with Lionel Hampton's band, and ended up getting a job with Hamp. I just started taking it step by step, little by little."
By the early '60s, Mabern was working with a who's who of the jazz world -- from Roland Kirk and Miles Davis to Sonny Rollins and Clark Terry. His longest musical association during the next few years was with trumpeter Lee Morgan, whom he worked with until Morgan's untimely death in 1972.
Mabern had also recorded several fine albums on the Prestige label from 1968 to 1970, but spent the 1970s as a popular sideman on literally dozens of recording sessions. In 1981, he took a teaching position at William Paterson University in northern new Jersey -- and is still on the adjunct faculty at the school.
It was at William Paterson that Mabern met saxophonist Eric Alexander, who had enrolled in the school to be close to the New York City jazz scene. Mabern was Alexander's first instructor at William Paterson, and he was immediately impressed by Alexander's talent.
"I could tell immediately that Eric was a special player," recalls Mabern. "In addition to having great technique, Eric also had a sense of where the music came from. He knew about all the sax players who came before him, and he was determined to carry that music on."
When Alexander was getting ready to make his 1992 debut recording on the Delmark label, Straight Up, he asked Mabern to play piano on the session. Mabern agreed, and eventually ended up sitting in as the pianist on the Delmark sessions of baritone sax player Cecil Payne as well. So it seemed natural for all concerned that when Bebop Generations officially formed and the band took to the road, Mabern would be part of the band.
"It's a great experience for me," concludes Mabern. "I love playing with all these guys, and it's a treat to see have a chance to play with a legend like Cecil and great young musicians in the same band. That's what jazz tradition is all about."
