Harold Mabern Trio

Fantasy Harold Mabern Trio Japan Import edition

“Fantasy” is a celebrated jazz album by the Harold Mabern Trio. Recorded for Venus Records with Harold Mabern (piano), bassist Dwayne Burno, and drummer Joe Farnsworth, the album captivates listeners with its soulful and groovy piano style. The track list includes ten songs, among them classics such as the title track “Fantasy,” “The Sidewinder,” “Sesame Street Theme,” and “Almost Like Being In Love.” Matt Collar of AllMusic wrote about Harold Mabern (1936–2019): “Mabern, an outstanding hard bop pianist, was a highly regarded musician who emerged from the Memphis jazz and R&B scene of the 1950s. Mabern developed a masterful style that combined harmonic and modal sophistication with impressive technical virtuosity … The pianist ushered in the new millennium with a series of albums for the Japanese label Venus, including “Kiss Of Fire” (2002), “Falling In Love With Love” (2003), “Fantasy” (2005), and “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” (2007). In 2008, he released another album for Venus Records, the solo piano session “Misty.”

“Fantasy” was recorded on June 27, 2004, at Avatar Studios (now known as Power Station at BerkleeNYC) in New York City, USA; it was produced by legendary sound engineer Tetsuo Hara and Todd Barkan, and mixed and mastered by Tetsuo Hara. Venus Records was founded in Japan in 1992 by Tetsuo Hara, who had previously worked as a producer for RCA Victor. The renowned label uses a special mastering process called “Hyper Magnum Sound,” which produces a powerful, dynamic sound and is highly regarded by audiophiles worldwide. A quick note: Venus LPs are pressed only once. Once the run is sold out, the title is removed from the catalog and will not be reissued. Collectors should therefore not wait too long to place their orders: the releases from the “Venus Masterpiece Collection” are extremely popular! We recommend the use of "L'Art du Son" LP cleaner to wet wash your vinyl. Even new records of high quality production will benefit from this.