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Eric Alexander, Harold Mabern, John Webber and Joe Farnsworth with Pat Martino at Dizzy's Print E-mail
Written by Ronaldo Oregano   
Saturday, 27 October 2007

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Pat Martino © Andrea Canter
A super band featuring the some of the finest jazz musicians of our time including Eric Alexander on tenor saxophone, Harold Mabern on piano, John Webber on bass, Joe Farnsworth on drums, and special guest Pat Martino on guitar, will appear at Dizzy's in New York from Tuesday, October 30th through Sunday, November 4th.

Widely respect jazz guitarist, Pat Martino began playing guitar when he was twelve years old and left school in tenth grade to devote himself to music. While taking lessons from Dennis Sandole in Philadelphia, Pat met another student of his, John Coltrane. Martino's first road tour was with jazz organist Charles Earland, a high school friend. Martino moved to Harlem to devote himself to "soul jazz" as played by Earland and others. The organ trio concept had a profound influence on Martino's rhythmic and harmonic approach, and he remained in the idiom gigging with Jack McDuff and Don Patterson. Pat was signed as a leader to Prestige Records when he was twenty.

In 1976 Martino became ill and eventually underwent surgery as the result of a brain aneurysm. The surgery left him with amnesia, without any memory of the guitar and his musical career. With the help of friends and his old recordings, Pat made a remarkable recovery and learned to play all over again. He resumed his career in 1987 in New York, a gig that was released on a CD with an appropriate name, The Return. Jazz Week reported in December that Martino's latest release, a tribute to Wes Montgomery entitled Remember, was the #1 played jazz recording in 2006.

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Eric Alexander © Andrea Canter
With 17 CD's out under his own name and appearing as sideman on countless others, Eric Alexander has made his mark on the jazz world and documented his progress as a tenor master. He has a rich tone and an aggressive, driving style that grabs the listeners attention and doesn't let go. One can hear the influence of Sonny Stitt, Jackie McLean and George Coleman in his playing. At William Paterson College in New Jersey Eric advanced his studies under the tutelage of Mabern, Joe Lovano, Rufus Reid, and others. "The people I listened to in college are still the cats that are influencing me today," says Alexander. "Monk, Dizzy, Sonny Stitt, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson--the legacy left by Bird and all the bebop pioneers, that language and that feel, that's the bread and butter of everything I do. George Coleman remains a big influence because of his very hip harmonic approach, and I'm still listening all the time to Coltrane because I feel that even in the wildest moments of his mid- to late-Sixties solos I can find these little kernels of melodic information and find ways to employ them in my own playing."

During the 1990s, after placing second behind Joshua Redman in the 1991 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition, Alexander threw himself into the whirlwind life of a professional jazz musician. He played with organ trios on the South Side of Chicago, made his recording debut in 1991 with Charles Earland, and cut his first album as leader in 1992. Sixteen recordings followed including his latest recording, 'Dead Center' (HighNote 7131) with Harold Mabern, John Webber, Joe Farnsworth'.

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Harold Mabern
Hard Bop piano legend Harold Mabern was born on March 20, 1936 in Memphis, Tennessee. Mabern played in Chicago with MJT + 3 in the late 1950s and then moved to New York in 1959. Since then Mabern has worked with jazz greats Jimmy Forrest, Lionel Hampton, the Jazztet (with Art Farmer and Benny Golson), Donald Byrd, Miles Davis , J. J. Johnson, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, Joe Williams , and Sarah Vaughan. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mabern led four albums for Prestige Records, performed with Lee Morgan, and recorded with Stanley Cowell's Piano Choir. Harold Mabern has recorded as a leader for DIW/Columbia and Sackville and toured with the Contemporary Piano Ensemble.

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Joe Farnsworth
Joe Farnsworth
has been living in the New York area since 1990. He studied with the great drummer Art Taylor while attending William Patterson College. While still living at home in Massachusetts, Joe studied with Alan Dawson who was also Tony Williams' teacher. Joe has been playing with tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander since the two met while they were students at William Patterson. It has been a very fruitful musical association. Farnsworth and Alexander have been together on too many sessions to list, with Eric as leader or a fellow sideman.

Dizzy's Sets are at 7:30 and 9:30 with an extra 11:30 set on Friday and Saturday. Cover charge is $35 per person with food & beverage: $10 minimum at tables or $5 minimum at the bar. Student discount prices ar $15 for 9:30pm set on Sundays, Tues-Thurs.; $15 for 11:30pm set on Fridays & Saturdays (valid student ID required). Dizzy's is located at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center Broadway at 60th Street, on the 5th Floor. For Reservations Call: 212 258-9595 or -9795. Seating is available on a first-come first-served basis either at tables or at the bar. For more information, visit: www.jalc.org/dccc

Jazz at Lincoln Center is a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to jazz. With the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and a comprehensive array of guest artists, Jazz at Lincoln Center advances a unique vision for the continued development of the art of jazz by producing a year-round schedule of performance, education and broadcast events for audiences of all ages.

 
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