James Williams, Harold Mabern, Mulgrew Miller, Donald Brown, Geoff Keezer
Memphis: Jazz Piano earlier years
Overview
A Look at Memphis Jazz Piano before James Williams, Donald Brown, and Mulgrew Miller made their significant contributions. In addition to the great Phineas Newborn jr., Charles Thomas and Harold Mabern also made a tremendous impact. Live music at local venues provided informal educational opportunities for students of all ages.
Memphis Jazz Piano Pre-Triumvirate
Charles Thomas
Charles Thomas was a widely respected pianist who greatly influenced his Memphis peers including Harold Mabern, James Williams, and Donald Brown among many others. During his career, Thomas headlined numerous jazz festivals and accompanied vocalists such as Tony Bennett. After Ellington's death, the band leader's orchestra asked Thomas to take his place on the piano. But Thomas' tour with the Duke Ellington Orchestra didn't last long. Thomas "got tired of being Duke Ellington - he wanted to be Charlie Thomas," said his longtime manager, Jim Porter. So Thomas returned to Arkansas and played at such venues as the Black Orchid in Hot Springs during the 1960s. Thomas's longest running show was at the Atrium Bar at the Holiday Inn in west Little Rock, where he riffed out jazz patterns and improvised versions of pop songs every day from 5 to 9 p.m. and during Sunday brunches. Thomas didn’t record much until very late in his life. He was invited to appear with some noted piano buddies on the Japanese releases for the DIW label entitled “Memphis Convention” and “Memphis Piano Convention”. He also recorded several CDs for the French label Space Time. Jazz pianist Charles Thomas, who shunned the spotlight of touring with Duke Ellington's band to play in his home state of Arkansas, died Tuesday November 23, 1999 of prostate cancer. He was 64.
Harold Mabern
HAROLD MABERN a superb ensemble player and an inspiring accompanist, played with many of America's finest musicians and singers before becoming a bandleader in his own right. He was born on March 20 1936 in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of a timber-yard labourer. Impressed by his son's ability to pick out tunes from memory, his father saved up $60 to buy a piano.
With no money for lessons, the teenaged Mabern began teaching himself, mainly by hanging around pianists. His immersion in Memphis blues influenced his later style of playing.
At Manassas High School in the early 1950s, Mabern found himself surrounded by other would-be jazz musicians, including the saxophonists George Coleman, Frank Strozier and Charles Lloyd. In this encouraging atmosphere his technique developed rapidly and, on graduating, he and Strozier headed for Chicago to join a band with a rising reputation, MJT+3. Mabern recalled practicing up to 12 hours a day, and his playing attracted the notice of Chicago's ever-changing jazz scene. He was a big man, with hands to match, and played "two-handed piano", combining firmly marked rhythm, full chords and graceful melodic lines.
In November 1959 Mabern decided to try his luck in New York. On his first night there he was standing outside Birdland, the city's most famous jazz venue, when he was greeted by the saxophonist Cannonball Adderley: "Hey, Big Hands! Looking for a gig? Come with me!" He soon found himself on the bandstand, accompanying the trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison.
This was the beginning of the period in which Harold Mabern became known as the jazz world's Mr Reliable. A brief extract from the list of greats who relied on his large, safe hands would include Lionel Hampton, Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Betty Carter, JJ Johnson, Milt Jackson, Hank Mobley and Wes Montgomery.
One date that Mabern wished he could forget was February 19 1972, when he was playing with the trumpeter Lee Morgan at Slugs nightclub. In the early hours of the morning, Morgan was shot dead on the bandstand by a jealous lover.
Mabern recorded prolifically under the leadership of others, but albums of his own were sparse at first. A Few Miles From Memphis, his debut, was released in 1968. More followed, but he was in such demand that he did not have the time to promote them. It was not until 1989, when his album Straight Street, recorded for the Japanese label DIW, met with great success in Japan, that he began what amounted to his second career.
Leading his own trio, and sometimes larger groups, he toured extensively, recording for DIW and later for Venus, another Japanese label. He took part in two remarkable piano ensembles, the Piano Choir - six pianists on conventional pianos or electric keyboards - and the Contemporary Piano Ensemble, with four players.
From 1981 until his death Mabern taught in the music faculty at William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey. Being self-taught, he liked to refer to his students as fellow-learners, and several later became fellowperformers, too, such as the tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander and drummer Joe Farnsworth.
Mabern's discography lists 26 albums under his own name and 91 as a sideman. These include many sessions led by close colleagues, such as Eric Alexander and his school friend George Coleman. Harold Mabern played in Britain on several occasions, recently in 2017 and 2018 with a quartet featuring Alexander, and with his trio at Ronnie Scott's in May. He is survived by a son and a daughter. Harold Mabern born March 20 1936, died September 18 2019