Showing posts with label Blue Note. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blue Note. Show all posts
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Paul Chambers – Chambers’ Music (Jazz West, 1956)
Paul Chambers album debut as a leader is subtitled ‘A Jazz Delegation from the East’, presumably because it was recorded in Los Angeles for the local label Jazz West by a group of jazzmen from the east coast. I wonder how that came about? I’m gonna hazard a guess at this; Chambers, Jones and Coltrane were employed in Miles Davis’ quintet at the time and they were probably gigging in California. The pianist Kenny Drew got wind of this and invited Chambers to play on an album he was doing with Jane Fielding for Jazz West. Jazz West gave Chambers the opportunity to cut an album, and asked Drew to join in on piano. Plausible, yeah why not:)
As we know Chambers had got the call from Miles Davis six months prior to join the new Quintet with Coltrane, Philly Joe Jones and Red Garland, all more or less established in their own right, and they had already recorded ‘Round About Midnight’ for Columbia and ‘Miles’ For Prestige Records. In addition Davis kept them busy playing shows in Baltimore, Detroit and Chicago to mention a few cities. Without a shadow of a doubt Chambers natural talent blossomed and his playing developed rapidly during 1955-56, and soon he was to become a very sought after session player in addition to his ‘day job’ in the quintet.On ‘Chambers’ Music’ he is given plenty of room to stretch out on all the numbers. ‘Visitation’, his own composition, and ‘Easy To Love’ is all Chambers, the latter a perfect showcase for his splendid arco play. ‘Dexterity’ has a good Drew solo, ‘Stablemates’ is drawn from The Quintet repertoire and ‘John Paul Jones’ gets Coltrane going.
Jazz West was a short lived subsidiary of Aladdin Records that managed to get almost a dozen releases under their belt before they folded, among them the aforementioned Jane Fielding, a Kenny Drew session and an Art Pepper album. ‘Chambers’ Music’ was released in 1956 or 1957 as Jazz West LP 7 and presumably went out of print quickly.
Then, in 1975 these six tracks plus four from Chambers’ album ‘Whims of Chambers’ and three obscure tunes from a Pepper Adam/Curtis Fuller session (more on that further down), are released by Blue Note as a double-billed, double LP; ‘High Step’ (BNLA 451-2).The definitive edition of ‘Chambers’ Music’ has to be the CD. Remastered in 1989 and released several times by Blue Note it consists of the original session and three Curtis Fuller led tracks. As it turns out this was Fuller’s recording debut, recorded in April 1956 for another short-lived label, Transition, but only released in its entirety on ‘High Step’ and ‘Chambers’ Music’. They feature Pepper Adams and on ‘Trane’s Strain only, Roland Alexander on piano. A fine session, quite obscure, but included on the Chambers Mosaic box set for reference.
‘Chambers’ Music’ is an integral part of the Chambers catalogue soon to be followed by ‘Whims Of Chambers’
- Dexterity - 6:46 (Parker)
- Stablemates - 5:52 (Golson)
- Easy To Love - 3:52 (Porter)
- Visitation - 4:57 (Chambers)
- John Paul Jones (aka Trane's Blues) - 6:56 (Coltrane)
- Eastbound - 4:24 (Drew)
- Trane's Strain - 11:04 (improvisation)
- High Step - 8:12 (Harris)
- Nixon, Dixon And Yates Blues - 8:29 (improvisation)
John Coltrane, Tenor Sax
Kenny Drew, Piano
Paul Chambers, Bass
Philly Joe Jones, Drums
Tracks 7-9 recorded in Cambridge, Massachusetts on 20. April 1956
John Coltrane, Tenor Sax
Pepper Adams, Baritone Sax
Curtis Fuller, Trombone
Roland Alexander, Piano
Paul Chambers, Bass
Philly Joe Jones, Drums
And last, but not least, i bid you to listen to Visitation in the player.
Friday, 23 July 2010
J.J. Johnson - The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson (Blue Note, 1955)
One of, to my knowledge, Chambers first ever recording sessions, Johnson and him had however recorded with King Pleasure the year before. A quintet setting with Jazz Messengers Hank Mobley and Horace Silver, plus Kenny Clarke on drums. Fine tempo throughout the session save for the ballad 'You're Mine, You'. Solid play by Chambers who had just turned 20 having spent the year leading up to this session touring and donning a role as a 'house bassist' at the Cafe Bohemia in New York. Three of the half dozen numbers are Johnson compositions and three alternate takes are thrown in on the CD release.
Doing research for this post i experienced the Blue Note release/re-release phenomenon, confusing stuff. The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson comprises three volumes, originally released in the Blue Note Modern Jazz series, or the '5000 series'. The first one came in 1953 (Vol 1, BLP 5028), the second in 1954 (Vol 2, BLP 5057) and the last in 1955 (Vol 3, BLP 5070, cover to the left). The latter is where Chambers came into the picture. In 1955 Blue Note abandoned the 10 inch 5000 series in favour of long play 12 inch records, in fact BLP 5070 was the very last. Cue the culturally defining Blue Note 1500 series. 
- Too Marvelous For Words - 3:35 (Mercer, Whiting)
- Jay - 3:42 (J.J. Johnson)
- Old Devil Moon - 3:52 (Harburg, Lane)
- It's You Or No One - 4:06 (Cahn, Styne)
- Time After Time - 4:13 (Cahn, Styne)
- Coffee Pot - 4:08 (J.J. Johnson)
- Pennies From Heaven - 4:18 (Burke, Johnston)
- Viscosity - 4:21 (Johnson)
- You're Mine, You - 3:07 (Green, Heyman)
- "Daylie" Double - 4:27 (J.J. Johnson)
- Groovin' - 4:40 (J.J. Johnson)
- Portrait Of Jennie - 2:56 (Burdge, Robinson)
- Pennies From Heaven (Alternate Take) - 4:25
- Viscosity (Alternate Take) - 4:21
- "Daylie" Double (Alternate Take) - 4:38
Tracks 1-6 recorded at The Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, September 24, 1954
J.J. Johnson, trombone
Wynton Kelly, piano
Charles Mingus, bassKenny Clarke, drums
Sabu, congas
Hank Mobley, tenor sax
Horace Silver, piano
Paul Chambers, bass
Kenny Clarke, drums
to You're Mine, You in the player.
Labels:
Blue Note,
Hank Mobley,
Horace Silver,
J.J. Johnson,
Kenny Clarke,
Paul Chambers
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