A 90th Birthday Tribute to Harold Mabern featuring Eric Alexander & Cyrus Chestnut

Fri, Mar 20

*PLEASE NOTE: All 6PM and 8PM shows at Smoke are Dinner Shows $25.00 / $40.00 / $50.00 / $55.00 – Wed, Thu, Fri & Sun $25.00 / $50.00 / $60.00 / $65.00 -- Sat Eric Alexander – tenor saxophone Cyrus Chestnut – piano Nat Reeves – bass Carl Allen – drums “For more than 60 years, Mabern was a Rock-of-Gibraltar presence in modern jazz, rising to the first rank of sidemen — with Coleman, guitarist Wes Montgomery, trumpeter Lee Morgan and myriad others — and building a substantial if often undervalued body of work himself.” – NPR Music Legendary pianist Harold Mabern is remembered in this tribute by a remarkable quartet. The group features pianist Cyrus Chestnut, whose blues-influenced style Mabern admired as similar to his own; Mabern’s closest collaborator, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander; one of his favorite bassists, Nat Reeves; and drummer Carl Allen. These performances mark what would have been Mabern’s 90th birthday on March 20 and the release of a newly remixed and remastered 10th Anniversary Edition of Afro Blue, perhaps his favorite recording project and proudest achievement as a leader. Once a ubiquitous presence at Smoke, Mabern is missed, but his music lives on. All About Jazz describes Eric Alexander as “widely praised for years as one of the jazz world’s foremost tenor saxophonists.” The New York Daily News calls Cyrus Chestnut “the rightful heir to Bud Powell, Art Tatum, and Erroll Garner.” JazzTimes notes that Nat Reeves is “among the most respected bassists of his generation,” and saxophone great Joe Lovano has said, “Carl Allen is an international powerhouse.