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8-panel Digipak Album (2 CD Set)
“On each tune, no matter pace or mood, the group was locked into the kind of sure grooves that only coalesce after years of playing together…the record runs wide and deep—one listen hardly is enough.”
— Suzanne Lorge, Downbeat
“Here [Mabern] is, at 82, playing with straight-ahead, youthful joie de vivre on the storytelling, life-affirming, two-disc set THE IRON MAN: LIVE AT SMOKE. No one goes home disappointed.”
— Mike Jurkovic, All About Jazz
“Having spent two nights playing as the tapes rolled for a planned live album, the American pianist and his quartet cut loose and played what they fancied. Luckily, that night was also recorded, and the result was so good it has been released first.”
— Chris Pearson, The Times (UK)
#1 JazzWeek radio chart (8 weeks!)
***
While it was captured over the course of a single night, there’s a rich lifetime’s worth of music packed into THE IRON MAN: LIVE AT SMOKE. If it’s a slight overstatement to say that the album represents an autobiography in song, that’s only because jazz master Harold Mabern tells his story in every note that he plays. That’s as true of the melodies he’s been interpreting for more than half a century – as many of the tunes on THE IRON MAN are – as it is of the always-inspired music that flows spontaneously from the great pianist’s fingers.
THE IRON MAN: LIVE AT SMOKE was recorded on the final night of a remarkable three-week residency, an annual holiday tradition at the renowned New York City club. Most of that 2017/18 run was dedicated to the music of John Coltrane and featured a host of invited guests to the bandstand. For this final performance on January 7, 2018, however, Mabern and his gifted, longstanding quartet – tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, bassist John Webber, and drummer Joe Farnsworth – went it alone, vigorously swinging through well-loved tunes from throughout Mabern’s storied career.
released November 23, 2018
Harold Mabern – piano
Eric Alexander – tenor saxophone
John Webber – bass
Joe Farnsworth – drums
Recorded Live January 7, 2018
at SMOKE Jazz Club, NYC
Produced by Paul Stache and Damon Smith
Recorded by Paul Stache with
Owen Mulholland and Jeff Citron
Mixed & Mastered by Chris Allen
Photography by Jimmy and Dena Katz
Liner Notes by Mark Ruffin
Design by Damon Smith & Paul Stache
Eric Alexander appears courtesy of HighNote Records
Executive Producers: Frank Christopher & Paul Stache
