Somewhere over the Rainbow

Harold Mabern is one of a number of American jazz artists who have developed a strong following in Japan, resulting in regular opportunities to record for the Japanese Venus label. This trio date with bassist Dwayne Burno and drummer Willie Jones III (the latter sticking mainly to brushes) covers ten songs from the vast Harold Arlen songbook, though not all of them are well-known standards. Mabern's bouncing, breezy opener is a fun-filled take of "Over the Rainbow," followed by a gospel-inflected soul-jazz treatment of "A Sleepin' Bee" that prominently features Burno. His blues-drenched take of "Blues in the Night" is harmonically rich, while Mabern's jovial treatment of "I've Got the World on a String" swings like mad. The pianist adds a hip Latin vamp to introduce a soul-jazz-infused arrangement of "This Time the Dream's on Me." "Savannah" is not one of Arlen's better-known tunes, but Mabern's chart sets it up as a calypso before seguing into hard bop, with Jones getting several breaks on sticks.