Double Bass Paul Chambers - jeez - how good was this guy?

[chuck3]

Circumstances have left me with Miles Davis albums to practice with until I get myself reorganized. Meanwhile, I am listening to Miles' albums from the late '50s and realizing just how good Paul Chambers is/was. So much warm tone that a more casual listener could relate to while the horns are breaking new ground at the other end of the sonic spectrum. Definitely one of the top bassists ever, and as concerns my own style on upright - the guy I'd like to emulate.

 

[J. Crawford]

Im from the Dark Side, and I can even say that Chambers was an amazing double bassist..

Back to my electric basses and frets!

 

[chuck3]

hey jcraw, thanks for the bump. Hope it works out with Alison T. I think I posted this in the least viewed folder of TB, but so it is for jazz DB players.

 

[Jim Carr]

Mr. PC is my hero, and was a friend of a friend.

 

[Marcus Johnson]

reaaaaallllllly good.

 

[zeytoun]

It's funny, most people can't distinguish between spectacular playing, and mediocre playing, outside of a solo. They just know which song grooves better.

And as a novice, I can't always put my finger on EXACTLY what someone (like PC) is doing differently. But when I am listening to something on NPR, I'll stop and say "that bassist is hot!" And it's subtle (at least to someone like me). Something about the tone or the note placement, or some subtle note selection, nothing inherently drastic. But the overall effect is huge, and I notice. And when the announcer comes back on. And of course the bassist is Paul Chambers, or Red Mitchell, or some other great...

 

[WBWhite]

I feel you...PC was and still is phenomenal...I listen to everybody, but Chambers is the one that makes me speed home to practice after a gig!

 

[RayBrownAddict]

The main thing i love about P.C. is his horn-like improvisation. The phrases and intonation are some of the best i have ever heard. He just has a fantastic approach to the instrument as a whole and not to mention his bowed solos just sing.

 

[iron monkey]

P.C. was a monster playing pizz or arco. I think it was the mans subtlety that made him swing like that. If you listen carefully he threw down lots of ghost notes, pushed and pulled the beat, played a lot of tone colour and would imply all sorts of things in behind the tunes that made them really work.
He really grabbed my heart the instant I heard him.

 

[Paul Warburton]

I have trouble, like most people, in trying to use words to convey musical meaning.
One word I do like and I reserve it for very few players or singers is substantial.
That, for me, weeds out alotta weed.

Paul was substantial.

 

[Sam Dingle]

Been really trying to dig into GO! by Paul Chambers lately. Hard to not get distracted by everything else out there but man this is swingin.

 

[lurk]

If you get a chance try to see Miles Davis Birth of the Cool, the documentary film. PC is all over the soundtrack and it's great to hear him on those big movie theater speakers. I take a contrarian view actually. He's one of my heros - imagine if he didn't drink and drug himself into an early death - but I find his soloing kind of formulaic and banal. What he does amazingly well is make every track he plays on bouyant and alive, which is actually a much harder and bigger thing to do than play a fancy solo. Sure wish I could have seen him play. I've worked with guys who played with him and apparently he was a very humble and gentle man.

 

[walking Bass]

I was a big fan of Wes Montgomery and Wynton Kelly and PC was their preferred bassist. I loved learning all the Motown and R&B parts and those bassist were terrific, but Paul Chambers was my idol. There was something about his ensemble playing I really loved, not just his incredible "chops".