Harold Mabern (born March 20, 1936 in Memphis, Tennessee) is a hard bop and soul jazz pianist.

Early in his career, Mabern played in Chicago with Walter Perkins' MJT + 3 in the late 1950s[1] before moving to New York in 1959. Mabern has worked with Jimmy Forrest, Lionel Hampton, the Jazztet (1961-1962), Donald Byrd, Miles Davis (1963), J. J. Johnson (1963-1965), Lee Morgan (1965), Hank Mobley (1965), Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, Joe Williams (1966-1967), and Sarah Vaughan. In more recent years, he has recorded extensively with his former William Paterson University student, the tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander.(1)

He performed in a video recorded session with Wes Montgomery in 1965 that is currently available on DVD as Wes Montgomery Live in '65.

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 (1993-1995).

A longtime faculty member at William Paterson University, Mabern is a frequent instructor at the Stanford Jazz Workshop. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.