Harold Mabern
Piano Solo on
The Chief

About

Closing out the solo section, this piano improvisation spans two choruses of the 32-bar AABA form at an uptempo 239 BPM. The three-soloist format and extended solo space recall the great hard bop sessions of the 1960s, a tradition Mabern knew intimately from his early career alongside Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, and other Blue Note stalwarts. Mabern's piano solo draws on the post-bop tradition, deploying well-voiced chords and single-note lines that navigate the harmonic terrain with both precision and swing. Coming after Jeremy Pelt's trumpet solo, this is the final improvisation before the ensemble returns to the head.

Harold Mabern was 77 to 78 years old at the time.