Pisces Calling Explained

Pisces Calling
Type:Studio
Artist:Harold Mabern
Cover:Pisces Calling.jpg
Recorded:June 1978
Studio:Blank Tapes Studio, New York City
Genre:Jazz
Label:Trident
Chronology:Harold Mabern
Year:1978
Prev Title:Greasy Kid Stuff!
Prev Year:1970
Next Title:Joy Spring
Next Year:1985

Pisces Calling is an album by pianist Harold Mabern. It was recorded in 1978 and was released by Trident Records.

Recording and music

The album was recorded at Blank Tapes Studio, New York City,[1] in June 1978. The musicians were Mabern on piano, electric piano and synthesizer, Jamil Nasser on bass, and Walter Bolden on drums.[2] All of the compositions were written by Mabern, with the exception of the title track, which was written by Keno Duke, a drummer with whom Mabern played in the 1970s. "Edward Lee" refers to trumpeter Lee Morgan, with whom Mabern played.[3] On "Too Late to Fall Back Baby", Mabern uses a synthesizer to add horn sounds to his electric piano playing.

Release and reception

Pisces Calling was released by Trident Records on LP, and was reissued on CD in Japan in 2009. Crtiic Marc Myers wrote: "Throughout Pisces Calling, Mabern's fingering is commanding and lyrical. His chords aren't merely played but hurled like fistfuls of darts, and there's an urgent snap to his delivery. His use of three different keyboards on different songs provides the album with texture and dimensional moods." The New York Daily News reviewer commented that the title track "ebbs and flows with surging chords and liquid arpeggios strongly evocative of the sea. And Mabern sails through it as if he were riding the crest of a whitecap."[4]

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Pisces Calling" – 4:56
  2. "The Lyrical Cole-Man" – 6:59
  3. "Waltzing Westward" – 8:04
Side two
  1. "Too Late to Fall Back Baby" – 4:12
  2. "Edward Lee" – 6:58

Source:

Personnel

Notes and References

  1. Harold Mabern . Pisces Calling . Trident Records . LP liner notes . TRS 506.
  2. Web site: Myers . Marc . Mark Myers . February 13, 2018 . Harold Mabern: Pisces Calling . jazzwax.com . June 10, 2019.
  3. Web site: Hynes . Jim . March 20, 2020 . The Late Great Pianist Harold Mabern Displays Leading Man Big Hands in 'Mabern Plays Mabern' . glidemagazine.com . March 28, 2020.
  4. News: Wyatt . Hugh . June 26, 1981 . Harold Mabern: Pisces Calling . . 23.