My Man, Paul Chambers

‘So What’ is playing on the Harmon/Karmon.

-Listen to that bass, I say to my wife.

-Is that your man? she asks.

It is indeed my man.  My man, or to be more precise, my jazzman of the moment, is bassist Paul Chambers. I have been collecting discs of which he played a part.

What? Never heard of him?  That may be so, but you have heard him if you have even the slightest immersion in jazz.

Surely you’ve heard the album ‘Kind of Blue’ by Miles Davis, which is playing at this moment. If you haven’t heard it, do yourself a favour and go get it. It is one of the half dozen jazz recordings that I believe every human should own. 

There are so many heavyweights on ‘Kind of Blue’ (Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Miles himself) that it’s easy to forget about those low notes that are driving that classic album (which is, I might add, by far the best-selling jazz album of all time).

The interplay between Paul Chambers and Bill Evans that begins this album leads into his bassline (bo dee bo dee bo dee bo doo doo) which propels the song with an impeccable coolness.  The horns slowly rise up and come to the fore, then Miles begins to blow.  Even then I am drawn to Paul Chambers smooth line.  (I can refer to Miles by his first name, but Paul Chamber requires both names. I will pay this under-appreciated man this small consideration.)

It’s not just that album either.

He played on John  Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps’ and ‘Blue Train’.

He played on some of the best albums of Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Herbie Hancock, Wes Montgomery, Oliver Nelson (the wonderful album called ‘Blues and the Abstract Truth’ one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, about which I will surely write about in the future), Sonny Rollins’ ‘Tenor Madness’ and on and on.

Not only was he one of the premiere sidemen of all time, but the man produced several fine albums including ‘Bass on Top’ that features some great guitar work by Kenny Burrell and is surely one of the great neglected jazz albums.

Sure, Paul Chambers is my man.

I recently made a playlist called Mr. Chambers - 160 tracks with him on bass. It’s tremendous.  Perhaps I should go through it track by track with you (a rollicking ‘His Sister’ from Lee Morgan, Vol. 2 is playing now), so you leave here completely convinced that Paul Chambers is  worthy to be my man, and your man too, he should be everyone’s man, but the babies are getting restless and my wife and I should take them for a walk on this cold late afternoon.  We will return to feed them dinner and continue listening to my man Mr. Chambers and I will have to wait for another day to continue my exploration of the man, his music, his legacy, and his premature demise.