Harold Mabern
Piano Solo on
Billie's Bounce

About

Taking the 3rd solo, this piano improvisation spans two choruses of the 12-bar blues at a medium-up 179 BPM. On Harold Mabern's 2014 album Afro Blue, the tune is performed in its traditional key of F with a 12-bar blues form at approximately 180 beats per minute, honoring the bebop tradition while bringing the assembled musicians' collective fire to the material. 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. Situated between Jeremy Pelt's trumpet solo and Eric Alexander's turn on tenor sax, it occupies a pivotal spot in the arrangement.

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