International Society of Bassists

2015 Research Competition

(Student Category)
Brian Casey
MM Jazz Studies (Bass Performance), University of North Texas
2nd Year DMA Student, Univesity of Colorado Boulder

Research Paper Title:

“Paul Chambers: Bird of the Bass”

Word Count: 7473

Introduction

Paul Chambers is arguably one of the most important jazz bass players of the post bop-era. His influence on

subsequent generations of jazz bassists can be considered a critical bridge between the acknowledged

innovations of pre-bop bass players Jimmy Blanton and Oscar Pettiford and the iconic bass players of the

1960s and 70s, like Scott LaFaro, Ron Carter and Stanley Clarke. He has been described by critics and

musicians alike as the ‘Bird of the Bass’, placing his importance in the jazz bass world on par with the

importance of Charlie Parker on the history and evolution of jazz. It is my intention in this paper to

demonstrate on myriad levels the veracity of this claim, while presenting a general overview of the career of

Paul Chambers.

The stage will be set with a short biography and a thorough discographical review. Following this

background information will be analyses of Paul Chamber’s sound and technical approach to his instrument

as well as detailed analysis of PC’s walking, soloing and approach to time and rhythm. Through all of these

explorations of the work of Paul Chambers will be threads leading to how he can genuinely be considered the

Bird of the Bass.

Biography

 
 
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Paul Lawrence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was born in Pittsburgh, PA on April 22, 1935. While neither of his

parents were involved professionally in music, he grew up in a culturally enriched home and was raised with

an appreciation for music and the arts. In fact, his namesake, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, was a prominent

African American poet at the turn of the century, and one of the first African American poets to achieve

national recognition as a literary artist. After his father left the family and moved to Detroit, MI in the early

1940s, Paul Jr. was raised by his mother in Pittsburgh. During this time in Pittsburgh Paul had the

opportunity to engage in music lessons, at first on baritone sax and later on tuba. This early musical exposure

already demonstrated young Paul’s predilection for instruments in the lower registers.

Paul’s mother contracted spinal meningitis during 1948, a disease to which she would finally succumb in

January of 1949, and Paul was sent to live with his father in Detroit. While the tragedy of leaving and then

losing his mother must have taken a severe emotional toll on the teenaged Paul, the opportunities for him in

Detroit proved to be fortuitous in terms of his future career. Many historians attribute a similarly unstable

home life in Bird’s youth to his self-focus, which encouraged his commitment to practicing his horn.

Paul was enrolled in Detroit’s Northern High School, where he first joined a school jazz band, and among his

classmates were future jazz stars Donald Byrd, Tommy Flanagan, Sonny Red and Roland Hanna. It was

during this time that Chambers discovered a passion for the relatively new musical concepts of modern jazz,

with its progenitors Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell figuring as the most direct influences on

his concept of what modern jazz is all about.

While many reports provide conflicting information, it is clear that by this time, late 1948, Paul Chambers

had started to explore playing the double bass. He was keenly interested in orchestral bass playing, the works

of composers like Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky and especially Serge Koussevitsky. He was also smitten

 
 
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with recordings including jazz bassists Oscar Pettiford, Ray Brown and particularly those of Ellington bassist

Jimmy Blanton Later in his career PC was quoted by Nat Hentoff as saying of Jimmy Blanton:

He was really the beginning of the instrument itself in jazz. He opened up the

field. I’d like to develop further the ideas he had of bowing, picking and

playing with rhythm. (Palmer 2012, 29)

By 1952, Paul had transferred to another high school with an even more impressive reputation as a musical

training ground for young players of all styles, Cass Technical High School. It was during his years at Cass

Tech, from ages 16-19, that Paul starting seriously studying double bass while playing in jazz clubs at night.

During the day, between orchestra and chamber music rehearsals, music theory classes and standard

academic fare, Chambers had the opportunity to study with Detroit Symphony Orchestra bassist Gaston

Brohan. Family members and friends from this time have all indicated that Paul Chambers spent 8-12 hours a

day practicing double bass, in addition to the time he was in classes at Cass Tech and on gigs around the

greater Detroit area. While Bird didn’t come up in a school band and orchestra system, the two artists

certainly shared a propensity for disciplined focus on developing their technique and prowess on their

respective instruments. (Russell 1996, 32)

During his years at Cass Tech, young PC availed himself of musical opportunities of all kinds, from

rehearsing and performing with the Detroit String Band, a semi professional pops orchestra to regular local

jazz club gigs with groups led by Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris and Kenny Burrell. From the tender age of

17, PC was a regular member of a group called the Four Sharps, led by Kenny Burrell, that combined

modern jazz playing with vocal harmonies – an experience that Chambers credits to developing his ear on the

band stand. This is a similar circumstance to Bird benefitting from playing dance music in the Ozarks.

(Russell 1996, 90) Elvin Jones, the youngest of three soon-to-be famous brothers in nearby Pontiac, MI,

 
 
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recalls having both Paul Chambers and fellow bassist and PC’s good friend Doug Watkins, come up to the

Jones family home in Pontiac for informal living room jam sessions. Barry Harris, noted Detroit-based

pianist and jazz educator, also recalls having sessions in his family home in Detroit, at a time when Doug

Watkins was recognized as the leading jazz bassist in the city. Paul maintained his studies at Cass Tech

through 1954, when he finally left Detroit to tour with saxophonist Paul Quinichette. Once on the road,

Chambers took the opportunity at the end of his contracted tour with Quinichette to move with his wife Ann

Chandler, to New York City in late 1954.

With a strong background in the fundamentals of double bass playing, as well as benefitting from countless

hours playing in the modern jazz style in Detroit with experienced mentors like Kenny Burrell, Barry Harris

and Hank Jones, PC came to NYC with a musical maturity that belied his 19 years. His first recordings and

club dates with Quinichette and King Pleasure are not necessarily noteworthy for Chambers’ playing, but he

was making progress in creating a name for himself in the city. After a brief stint back home in Detroit at

wife Ann’s request, the Chambers’ moved back to New York to further develop PC’s professional career.

From late 1954 to mid 1955, Chambers was an active freelance bassist in the heart of the New York scene,

turning heads at nearly every turn. From his position as after-hours bassist for jams at Birdland to replacing

house bassist Oscar Pettiford at the Café Bohemia, PC was seen by many who encountered him as a

wunderkind type of figure, or as Cannonball Adderley recalled in 1972:

Paul Chambers was an instant genius. He fit right into things. He was [already]
probably the most important bass player of that era. (Palmer 2012, 37)

During this six-month period, PC gigged and recorded with artists at the top of the New York scene such as

J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding, trombonists Bennie Green and Jimmy Cleveland, Cannonball and Nat

Adderley, Jackie McLean, Kenny Clarke and pianist George Wallington.

 
 
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It was in a regular group with Wallington at the Café Bohemia (including Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean,

vibraphonist Joe Roland and drummer Art Taylor) that Miles Davis first heard Paul Chambers play. Davis

had a four-week stand coming up at the Café Bohemia, and had settled his band to include Sonny Rollins,

Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones, but both his previous bassists, Oscar Pettiford and Percy Heath, were

unavailable. At the urging of Jackie McLean, Miles went to see PC play with the George Wallington group

and was immediately impressed by this unknown kid from Detroit. Davis was intent during this period to

assemble a regular group, one that would remain static over a long period and develop a rapport that was

missing from his recent bands. Davis’ last regular working group, the 1948 nonet, while short-lived, had

rehearsed and worked together as a cohesive unit.

With one final – and notable – adjustment to the lineup, replacing the absent Sonny Rollins with a relatively

unknown tenor sax player from Philadelphia named John Coltrane, Miles Davis’ new quintet was set with

Paul Chambers in the bass chair, The group had a series of dates lined up for fall of 1955, and unbeknownst

to Paul Chambers, the powerful Shaw Artists Corporation had been preparing for a full frontal attack on the

music business to promote this new band on the heels of Miles’ triumphant resurgence, spawned by his

landmark performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in early July. For the next 8 years, Paul Chambers

would enjoy the stability and notoriety of being the first call sideman of the most popular and powerful jazz

leader of his day, Miles Davis. From 1955 to 1963, PC would appear all over the world and record more than

15 released LPs with Miles Davis, including some of the most critically and commercially successful jazz

recordings of all time.

PC’s commitment to the Miles Davis groups by no means curtailed his professional endeavors outside the

confines of the Miles Davis circle, however. From the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s, Paul would record and

perform with many if not most of the major artists of the post bop era. Notable during this time, while he was

 
 
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committed to the Miles Davis Quintet, were the 14 LPs he recorded with John Coltrane, the 12 LPs he

recorded as a regular member of the Red Garland Trio and the 5 albums he recorded as a leader of his own

group, which featured many of his own compositions.

After leaving the Miles Davis orbit in 1963, PC’s main focus was as a member of the popular and active

Wynton Kelly Trio, who left the Miles Davis Sextet as a group with Jimmy Cobb. While Chambers remained

active though most of 1968, his health and reliability had begun to decline due to his lifelong predilection for

alcohol and more recent heroin use. By the late 1960s, PC was a shadow of his former self, with moments of

brilliance often obscured by longer and longer periods of instability and inactivity. Finally, on January 4,

1969, Paul Lawrence Dunbar Chambers died in a New York City hospital from complications related to

tuberculosis.

Discography

In his book The Bass Tradition, bassist Todd Coolman postulates that Paul Chamber was the most recorded

jazz bassist in the period between 1955 and 1962. With over 300 recordings to his credit, most of which were

undertaken during this period, there is a lot of evidence to support this claim. Considering the breadth of jazz

recording in the 1950s and 1960s, statistical confirmation of this statement is beyond the scope of this

document. Suffice to say that Paul Chambers was involved in many of the most important jazz recordings of

the mid-1950s through the early 1960s, and is included on some of the most important, influential,

groundbreaking and best-selling jazz releases of all time.

1954 - Paul Chambers’ first documented and officially released recordings appear to be with Paul
Quinichette’s 1954 Septet, recorded on November 4, 1954 and released on both the Prestige and EmArcy
labels. This was followed up just over a month later with a session with King Pleasure but under the musical
direction of Quincy Jones on December 7th with a large group including trombonists JJ Johnson and Kai
Winding, as well as tenor saxophonist Lucky Thompson and vocalists Jon Hendricks and Eddie Jefferson.

 
 
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1955 – With a total of twenty-one recording dates between June 6 and December 8, we can consider 1955 the
first year of significant recording activity in Paul Chambers’ career. Recording for 10 different leaders shows
the versatility of the young bassist with studio and live recording dates for artists ranging from Nat and
Cannonball Adderley to trombonists Bennie Green, Jimmy Cleveland. J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding.
Erroneously described as PC’s first recording session by Cannonball Adderley was a session on June 28
under the leadership of Kenny Clarke that included hard bop progenitor Horace Silver, Chambers’ fellow
Detroit transplant Donald Byrd in his actual first recording session along with both Adderley brothers. While
PC’s live recording for a George Wallington release on the Progressive label has historical importance and is
of high musical quality, the standout recordings from this year were a live recording of two tracks on July 13
with the Miles Davis Quintet featuring Sonny Rollins and finally Chambers’ first sessions for “The New
Miles Davis Quintet” featuring John Coltrane, with the rhythm section know as THE rhythm section of the
1950, including Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones.

1956 – From 1956 to 1962, a month on the calendar of Paul Chambers without at least two recording
sessions was a rarity. In May of 1956 alone we find 6 dates, from the predictable sessions with the Miles
Davis Quintet to quintets led by PC’s old friend from Detroit Kenny Burrell, hard bop pianist Elmo Hope,
Kenny Clarke, and a session for Prestige led by Sonny Rollins that resulted in the Tenor Madness LP. 1956
also saw Chambers’ work with piano trios led by Toshiko Akiyoshi, Hampton Hawes, Hank Jones, Kenny
Drew and significantly PC’s first date with the Red Garland Trio – the first of twelve such dates. Other
leaders PC recorded with in 1956 include Thelonious Monk (just one tune, released by Riverside), Hank
Mobley, Lee Morgan, Jackie McLean, Quincy Jones and the Prestige All-Stars. While nine separate sessions
with Miles Davis dominated his calendar, including the notable May and October sessions that produced four
LPs for Prestige, 1956 was also the year to see the first two sessions under the leadership of Paul Chambers
himself. The first of these was for the small Jazz West label on March 1st and 2nd in Los Angeles and the
second coming in September for the Blue Note label. Both Paul Chambers-led sessions included PC’s band
mates from the Miles Davis Quintet John Coltrane and Philly Joe Jones, and included Kenny Drew for Jazz
West and Donald Byrd, Kenny Burrell and Horace Silver for the Blue Note date.

1957 – While the Miles Davis Quintet was touring in Southern California in January of 1957, PC found time
to enter Los Angeles and Hollywood studies to record sides on four dates for Art Pepper (released as Meets
the Rhythm Section for Contemporary Records), French Horn player John Graas, and tenor saxophonist Bill
Jenkins. Among the 57 (!) other studio dates listed in PC’s discography for 1957, repeat sessions for Red

 
 
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Garland, Lee Morgan, J.J. Johnson, Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean and Jimmy Cleveland
attest that their choice to hire Paul Chambers the first time was not regretted. New session leaders for PC in
1957 comprise a who’s who of bop and hard bop, including Art Taylor (with the Prestige All-Stars), Johnny
Griffin, Gene Ammons, Clark Terry, Curtis Fuller, Clifford Jordan, Thad Jones, Gigi Gryce, Bud Powell,
Sonny Clark and Benny Golson. Further standouts from this year include the first of 14 LPs recorded with
leader John Coltrane, PC’s first of two sessions for vocalist Abbey Lincoln, and several sessions playing the
arrangements of Gil Evans, first under Miles’ leadership and later in the year for sessions led by Gil Evans.
As if this didn’t keep him busy enough, PC also produced two more LPs under his own name for Blue Note
in May and July. These dates as a leader primarily featured fellow Detroit musicians Donald Byrd, Tommy
Flanagan, Hank and Elvin Jones and Kenny Burrell, with the addition of Clifford Jordan and Art Taylor.

1958 – Somehow, Paul Chambers was able to keep pace with his herculean recording activity from the
previous year, with 1958 tracking 54 studio sessions. With 26 of those 54 session under the leadership of
Miles Davis, other repeat leaders included Sonny Clark, Warne Marsh, Kenny Burrell, Gil Evans, Bud
Powell, Abbey Lincoln, and a reunion with a leader from PC’s first year in NYC, Bennie Green. New
bandleaders again connote how in demand PC was for the top jazz artists of the day, with sessions for Chet
Baker, Roy Haynes, Milt Jackson, trumpeter Louis Smith and vocalist Johnny Pace. While PC didn’t record
as a leader in 1958, his work with Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Red Garland are among their strongest to
date, and set the stage for 1959, which was to be Paul Chambers’ banner year as a sideman.

1959 – The fifty recording dates Chambers logged in 1959 may seem to reflect a slight reduction in his
studio activity, but it can be argued that among these dates were at least two of the most important sessions in
the history of the music. Between early March and early May, PC was engaged in sessions for John Coltrane
and Miles Davis that were to become the bulk of two of the most influential and/or top-selling LPs in the
history of jazz, Giant Steps and Kind of Blue, respectively. 1959 also saw the first tracks of what was to
become the Sketches of Spain LP from Miles Davis with an orchestra under the direction of Gil Evans.
Another highlight for PC in 1959 was his production of his first LP as a leader honoring his new contract to
the Vee Jay label, with two sessions including the new rhythm section from the Miles Davis Quintet/Sextet
of Wynton Kelly and Jimmy Cobb and the front line addition of relative newcomer Freddie Hubbard on
trumpet. More recording as a sideman was completed by Chambers in 1959 for Blue Mitchell, Kenny
Dorham, Jimmy Heath, Dizzy Reece, Frank Strozier, Sonny Red and a debut album by another newcomer to
the scene, Wayne Shorter. Among leaders calling PC for a return to the studio in 1959 were Jimmy
Cleveland, Jackie McLean, Chet Baker, Curtis Fuller, Sonny Clark, Cannonball Adderley, Thad Jones and

 
 
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Benny Golson. While by no means exhaustive, two other significant entries into PC’s discography in 1959
were a duo session with hard bop pioneer Art Blakey and several of many dates to come with the newly
formed Wynton Kelly Trio.

1960 – At just 45 reported recording dates, including live performances recorded for release, 1960 does
represent a slowing of PC’s recorded activity. This by no means represents a diminishing of the significance
of those sessions PC was involved in, as sessions that completed the Sketches of Spain LP for Miles Davis
attest. While leaders returning to PC for his reliable bass lines and solo voice may have been fewer than in
previous years, they are still well-represented by artists like Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Art Pepper, Donald
Byrd, J.J. Johnson, Freddie Hubbard, Art Taylor, Jackie McLean and John Coltrane. New leaders in the Paul
Chambers discography include no less significant artists than Mal Waldron, Earl Zindars, Bob Brookmeyer,
Philly Joe Jones, Freddie Redd, Tina Brooks, Herbie Mann and Grant Green.

1961 – The slow down in PC’s recorded output is unmistakable by 1961, where he has no more than 24
recording dates listed. Still with Miles Davis, PC’s reputation was strong enough to warrant being hired for
the first time by Oliver Nelson for the popular and critically acclaimed Blues and the Abstract Truth LP, as
well as by bop-era legends Dexter Gordon and Tadd Dameron, plus sessions with tenor saxophonists Stanley
Turrentine and Ike Quebec. Return engagements start to decline by 1961 and the list of those coming back to
Chambers for studio work include Elmo Hope, Kenny Dorham, Freddie Redd, Philly Joe Jones/Elvin Jones,
Bennie Green, Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean, Dexter Gil Evans, Nat Adderley, Phineas Newborn, Milt
Jackson and PC’s soon-to-be primary employer, Wynton Kelly.

1962 – In the last year of his association with Miles Davis, while PC was still a regular touring member of
the Miles Davis Sextet, the group had become a three-horn group without piano, and featured Wayne Shorter
on tenor sax, after a round of short-term solutions like Hank Mobley, George Coleman and Sam Rivers,
among others. Chambers’ recorded output throughout the year outside of his orchestral and small group work
with Davis totals 4 dates with just two artists: Wes Montgomery’s Full House session and Benny Golson’s
Turning Point sessions.

1963 – In his first year released from any commitments to Miles Davis, Chambers struggled to stay active
both in performance and in the studio, even though he was a regular member of the modestly popular
Wynton Kelly Trio. With PC’s increasing health issues based in his alcohol and drug habits, his reliability
and desirability was lessened to the point that 1963 shows only 10 dates on his recording calendar. These

 
 
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dates can be comprehensively attributed to the leadership of just six artists: Les McCann, organist Phil
Porter, Wynton Kelly, Herbie Hancock, Gil Evans and Pepper Adams.

1964 – As hard bop continued to decline in popularity, and PC’s reputation had lost its luster in the post-
Davis era, his recording activity in 1964 can be readily encapsulated as being comprised of three sessions
with the Wynton Kelly Quintet, with Kenny Burrell and Candido Camero, and one session each for Lorez
Alexandria, Jimmy Heath and Gil Evans.

1965 – While the factors that led to Chambers’ limited employment in previous years remained, 1965 saw a
return to a more active recording calendar, logging 20 dates in the studio with artists as diverse as Hank
Mobley, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Elvin Jones, and of course his regular employer. The hallmark artist with whom
PC recorded in 1965 as a member of the Wynton Kelly Trio was Wes Montgomery, with whom the trio
recorded live dates in June, August and September at the Half Note in New York City, leading to the release
of the critically and popularly acclaimed Smokin’ at the Half Note.

1966 – Increasingly poor health and unreliability hampered any chance of PC returning to his previous form
and activity, both live and in the studio. 1966 was only four recording session for PC, but include solid
sessions for Lee Morgan on Blue Note Records (yielding the Charisma LP and the posthumously released
The Rajah, only discovered in 1984) and one session each for Sonny Criss and Teddy Edwards for the
Prestige label. At this point, Ron McClure was recording with the Wynton Kelly Trio, although PC would
return to the studio with Kelly and Jimmy Cobb one last time before his passing in 1969.

1967 – Paul Chambers’ limited recording opportunities in 1967 were all for the Prestige label, completed on
four separate dates for Jaki Byard, Sonny Criss, Richard Groove Holmes and Houston Person.

1968- In his final year of recorded activity, we see three strong sessions from Paul Chambers. A live
recording on April 21st in Baltimore with the Wynton Kelly Trio backing up Joe Henderson produced two
fine Henderson LPs on the Verve label, Four and Straight No Chaser. A June 4th session under the leadership
of PC’s old friend and mentor from Detroit, Barry Harris, also included Detroit musicians Pepper Adams and
the younger Charles McPherson as well as Kenny Dorham and Billy Higgins. Chambers’ last recording date
came about with the Wynton Kelly Trio on August 4, 1968 and produced the Delmark release The Last Trio
Session.

 
 
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When one considers the enormity of Paul Chambers’ impact on the jazz scene in the 1950s and 1960s, a

compelling question comes to mind: What was it about Chambers’ playing that made him such and effective

all-around bass player and so highly in demand? I believe the answer here, just as it does when the same

question is asked of Charlie Parker, lies in the specifics of PC’s sound and in his harmonic and rhythmic

approach to playing jazz. In the following sections, I’ll look at specific attributes of PC’s concepts regarding

the role of the bass in jazz, from his sound to his note choices in walking and solos as well as in his overall

rhythmic concept.

Sound / Technique

One instantly identifiable element of Paul Chambers’ playing is his sound. Just as Charlie Parker’s alto

sound was easily recognizable and often copied – or at least modeled – by other players of his instrument,

Paul Chambers generated an enviable double bass sound that had a basis in Chambers’ strong technical

foundation. Whether walking or soloing, playing pizzicato or arco, Paul Chambers developed a technical

approach to playing jazz on the double bass that allowed for an effective combination of a deep resonant

timbre with a precise and clear attack. Therefore, an attribute shared by Chambers and Parker is clarity.

Part of his identifiable sound is due to his commitment to playing in the lower left hand positions whenever

possible. Not only does this approach promote solid intonation and minimize movement on the fingerboard,

stopping the strings near the head of the bass creates the longest string length possible. This allows more

string mass to vibrate over a longer string length, creating a more complex, resonant sound and most

effectively engaging the vibration of the entire instrument. The net result of these factors is that the sound is

deep and full, characteristics that have long been associated with Paul Chambers’ signature sound.

Aside from decisions regarding placement on the fingerboard, Chambers’ left hand contributes decidedly to

his sound in how – and more importantly when – he chooses to stop each note from vibrating. A specific

 
 
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hallmark of Paul Chamber’s sound that has been identified by analysts is the length of his notes, particularly

in his pizzicato playing. (With arco playing, the length of note is mostly determined by the movement of the

bow in the right band.) PC’s notes, whether walking or soloing, were consciously stopped by the left hand

before the next note was sounded, giving the decay of each note a shorter time-value, and allowing the

resonance of the bass to have a more significant contribution to his overall sound. Combined with stellar left

hand technique that promoted exemplary intonation across the entire fingerboard, the clarity that resulted

from Chambers’ left hand technique contributed greatly to his distinctive sound.

There are also important elements of his right hand approach that are associated with his specific sound.

Primary among these is the trained relaxation with which he approaches pizzicato jazz playing. PC’s right

hand always maintained a consistent angle of consequence in relation to the strings, and this reduced tension

and disparity in how he approached pizzicato playing. Playing on Golden Spiral gut strings with no

amplifier, PC never needed to introduce tension into his playing, as his setup of strings high off the

fingerboard and defined approach produced enough sound to blend well with his sensitive accompanists.

Whether soloing or walking, when PC played pizzicato, he could count on a clear and relaxed approach that

allowed for a depth of tone and clarity of expression that is distinctive to PC’s playing. This allowed

Chambers to reserve a more aggressive approach to be used as an effect, most notably in his solos, where he

digs in with his right hand to the point that distortion is introduced. PC used this effect both as a contrast

within his solos and almost as it were another instrument that he can access for an entire solo, as is the case

with his solo on “Whims of Chambers” from his 1957 Blue Note LP of the same name. (Blue Note 37647)

Another aspect of Chambers’ right hand technique that figures largely in his sound is his disciplined concept

of the placement of his right hand fingers relative to the bridge and fingerboard. Whether consciously or not,

PC developed an approach whereby his right hand plucks the lower sounding strings closer to the end of the

fingerboard and the higher sounding strings are plucked further up the fingerboard. This creates a diagonal

 
 
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motion across the strings in his right hand as he moves from the E and A strings to the D and G strings. The

result of this approach is a much more even timbre across the strings, where the usually ‘boomy’ lower

strings have more clarity due to the increased tension of playing closer to the bridge and the generally

‘twangy’ higher strings benefit from a fuller timbre, owing to plucking the strings closer to the middle of the

vibrating length of string. This evenness of timbre across strings is just one of many factors in the clarity and

direct expression of PC’s concept of sound through disciplined and conscious technique.

Walking

Paul Chambers’ approach to constructing walking bass lines comes from a tradition he learned as a young

player listening to early bop bassists like Ray Brown and Curley Russell. While Jimmy Blanton was PC’s

primary influence in terms of his melodic and solo conceptualization, that influence also contributes to his

approach to walking, adding a level of sophistication to the model of Brown, Russell, Oscar Pettiford and

Percy Heath. Where Ray Brown’s bass lines, for example, are largely constructed of chord tones and diatonic

scalar lines with isolated chromatic notes focused on leading tone functions, Paul Chambers takes a more

complicated and melodic approach to his bass lines.

While an analysis of Ray Brown lines might reveal complete measures of chord tones on all beats several

times per chorus, either in arpeggios or groups of thirds, with sporadic half-step approach tones, a Paul

Chambers bass line will most often include mostly chromatic lines, either ascending or descending,

culminating with a whole or half step leading to the next down beat. (Ex. 1 and 2)

Ex. 1 - Ray Brown, from The Ray Brown Method

 
 
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 Ex. 2 – Paul Chambers, from “Blues By Five” (Nurmi mm 397-400)

Chord tones on downbeats are still common in a Paul Chambers bass line, as they are with most bassists in

the bop and post-bop eras, but how PC gets to each of those downbeat chord tones is what sets PC apart. His

approach in this regard has become an accepted part of the bassist’s language but in the mid 1950s, when he

was playing this way, this was a highly individual approach, with very little precedent in walking bass

examples. After Paul Chambers came on the scene, Ray Brown’s lines even became more linear.

Another approach that sets PC apart is the degree to which his bass lines are both supportive and reactive to

the soloist he is playing behind. Especially with his work starting in the Miles Davis Quintet, Chambers

clearly makes decisions in his accompaniment based on the soloist’s playing. This manifests in both the

range, dynamic and chromatic density of his walking and in his choices to break a straight 4 beat per measure

pattern to add melodic commentary. An early example of this can be found on The New Miles Davis Quintet

recording from November 1955 on the track “Just Squeeze Me”. While he starts with even time at this

medium swing tempo, as Miles Davis begins to embellish the melody before the bridge, PC starts to combine

a melodic approach in keeping with Miles’ statements with a shift to walking in 4. PC continues to play

melodically through the end of the theme, at which point he reverts to 4 beats to the bar.

Paul Chambers’ depth of harmonic understanding and awareness can be seen in certain sections of his bass

lines, where his note choices are much more accurately analyzed by their relation to substitute chords,

 
 
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anticipated or prolonged harmonies or the omission of harmonies through substitution. Commonly accepted

chord progressions for jazz standards are frequently reharmonized as part of Chambers’ improvised walking,

as in this example from trading fours section of the 1956 Miles Davis recording of the Red Garland

composition “Blues by Five” from the Cookin with the Miles Davis Quintet LP (Prestige 7094). (Ex. 3)

Ex. 3 – Paul Chambers, trading with drums from “Blues by Five”

In the above example, the F to Eb in the first bar implies the omission of the ii7 chord (Cm7) in the last 4

bars of the form. The D to Db in the fourth bar of the example implies a prolongation of the Bb7 with a

chromatic resolution to the C and A, function as the 5th and 3rd pitches of the dominant chord, leading to the

Bb7on the downbeat of the fifth bar of this example. In the second four (after the 4 bars of drum solo) the

Bb7 chord is again prolonged into the last bar of the example, with the G7 chord represented by the last two

notes, its fifth and tonic. Charlie Parker was also a master at this kind of implied harmonic substitution.

Many of PC’s choices in creating bass lines had as much to do with creating a sense of motion and drive

solely through pitch selection as with making the changes and supporting the harmonic and melodic

construction of the song. While he rarely used pitches breaking into thumb position (ledger line A and above

in double bass notation) while he walked, he regularly took full advantage of the remaining two-octave range

available to him. His decisions regarding range, while likely innate, showed his commitment to creating

lines that kept the supporting role of the bass active and a crucial component of the sound of the ensemble.

 
 
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The architecture of his complete bass lines demonstrate his desire to create balance, symmetry and forward

harmonic motion with the upmost subtlety and precision.

A final and curious element found in some of PC’s bass lines are a heightened importance of maintaining a

chromatic line and direction, to the point of using pitches outside the chromatic scale in the form of

microtonal execution. Chuck Israels describes this phenomenon in Thinking in Jazz (Berliner 322):

Paul Chambers would sometimes find some notes in between the

notes…putting four pitches in a line in which there was only room for
three. For example, if he had to get from D to F and he had to play four
notes in there and he happened to be going chromatically, he could go
from a D to a flattened Eb to a sharpened Eb to and E to an F.

This kind of hyper-chromaticism, along with his use of chord prolongation, substitution and omission

demonstrates how Paul Chambers was more concerned with the sonic and rhythmic result of his lines than he

was with playing the ‘right’ notes.

Soloing

While Paul Chambers’ bass lines have long been regarded as a model for modern jazz walking bass lines,

much of his notice among musicians, fans and critics alike has been even more so for his extremely agile,

fluent and expressive soloing capabilities. Whether playing pizzicato or arco, ballads or up-tempo

arrangements, PC has been an improvising soloist of the highest order since his arrival on the scene in 1954.

According to all accounts, he appears to have arrived in New York with most of his prowess in this regard

already fully developed and mature well beyond his 19 years. Throughout his career, PC’s soloing is readily

identified through his personal approach to chromaticism, innate blues sensibilities, accent structure,

rhythmic concept and, as mentioned above, his expressive sound, whether playing pizzicato or arco.

 
 
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It is in Paul Chambers’ use of chromaticism, combined with a natural use of blues inflection, that his playing

can be most closely aligned with that of Charlie Parker. Chambers recognized the influence Parker had on

him as a teenager in Detroit, and it’s clear through his use of specific vocabulary that Bird’s playing figures

strongly in PC’s melodic concept. Compare these two examples taken from solos on the Parker contrafact

“Chasin' the Bird.” The first is from the Charlie Parker solo on Savoy 1108 (Ex 4) and the second from

Chambers’ own Bass on Top LP, Blue Note 93182 (Ex 5).

Ex 4 – Charlie Parker, from solo on “Chasin' the Bird” (Savoy 1108)

Ex 5 – Paul Chambers, from solo on “Chasin' the Bird” (Blue Note 93182)

In both examples, you can see how the soloist uses non-diatonic chromatic pitches to create continuity within

the line, but avoids strict diatonic running of the changes. Notable also are instances when non-chord tones

are emphasized on strong beats, as in the downbeat of the second bar (G = 9th of F) and the third beat of the

last bar (F =11th of C7) in Bird’s solo and the downbeat of the first bar (C = 11th of Gm7) and the third beat

of the last bar (F = 11th of C7) in the last bar of PC’s phrase.

 
 
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Even in Chambers’ creation of contrafacts over standard chord progressions we can see the influence and

modeling of Parker, not to mention modern melodic writing with plenty of forward motion. Ex 6 consists of

measures 4-6 of PC’s “Tale of the Fingers”, a contrafact based on the changes of Gershwin’s “Strike Up the

Band.” Ex 7 demonstrates measures 10-12 of “Visitation”, his contrafact on Bronislau Kaper’s “All God’s

Chillun Got Rhythm”, showing a melodic construction that emphasizes non-chord tones on strong beats to

give a sense of chromaticism within a largely diatonic expression, much like many of Bird’s contrafacts:

Ex 6 – mm 4-7 of Paul Chambers’ “Tale of the Fingers”

Ex 7 – mm 10-13 of Paul Chambers’ “Visitation”

In both melodies, a pattern seen in PC’s walking bass lines is consistent here, in that the last off beat of each

bar is no more than a whole step from the down beat of the following bar. This feature appears in a great deal

of Chambers’ playing, and can be seen in Charlie Parker’s playing frequently as well.

Another element of Paul Chambers’ solo approach that is distinctive is the way he phrases running eighth

note lines. When these lines are ascending, he places accents on the off beats. Conversely, if the lines are

descending, the accents fall on the beat. This applies to linear constructions as well as when the pattern

 
 
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occurs with descending intervals, as in the thirds from these two examples of PC’s solo on Paul’s Pal from

Sonny Rollins’ Tenor Madness (Prestige 7047):

Ex 8 – mm 6-7 from PC’s solo on “Paul’s Pal”

Ex 9 – mm 9-10 from PC’s solo on “Paul’s Pal”

One last consideration in Paul Chambers’ solo playing that must be considered as part of his identifiable

sound and approach involves his arco playing. With very few precedents in jazz, (primarily Slam Stewart,

Major Holley and PC’s primary source of soloistic inspiration, Jimmy Blanton) when PC started playing arco

solos on recordings and in performance, the jazz world was exposed to a new and novel sound. The

transition from classical arco playing to jazz phrasing is not as simple as it might sound. The bowings

required for each style are contradictory, and PC created a model solution to this and other issues in going

from classical training to jazz playing. Most notably, Chambers approached playing swing eighth notes by

bowing across the beats, with bow changes starting on off beats when notes needed to be slurred. This is

contrary to an intuitive approach, but facilitates a smoother swing feel. PC also had to make conscious

choices about which notes in a written line or improvised solo should be slurred under a single bow and

which notes should be rearticulated by changing bow direction, or even re-taking the bow in the same

direction. Through his discipline and dedication, PC created an approach to jazz arco playing that became a

 
 
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model for any subsequent bassist wanting to play in a bop or post-bop style, specifically Red Mitchell,

Richard Davis and PC’s fellow Cass Tech Orchestra member from the cello section, Ron Carter. While there

is no correlation to Charlie Parker in terms of Paul Chambers’ arco playing, playing bass with a bow in a jazz

setting is one of a myriad factors that makes PC’s sound uniquely identifiable, which is a quality that can

certainly be linked to Charlie Parker.

Time

The final aspect of Paul Chambers’ playing we’ll investigate is far from the least impactful. A bass player’s

concept of time and rhythm is central to their role in the jazz ensemble. Several specific elements of PC’s

playing can be identified that had a significant impact on how his playing produced a time feel that became

central to every project for which he was engaged. One of these elements is that Chambers was very precise

about the length of his notes while walking and playing in a 2-beat feel. As previously described, he used his

left hand to stop each note, creating a spirited bounce effect regardless of the tempo, which helped provide

rhythmic momentum and drive. He also was very specific about where he placed his attack in relation to the

beat, most commonly right in the middle of the beat.

His deep relationship to time and rhythm didn’t stop when he shifted his role to that of soloist. His choice to

accent differently depending on direction mentioned above is linked to his highly personal concept of time

and specifically how he approached a swing feel. He also employed an astounding degree of specificity in

how he played his solo eight notes ahead of and behind the beat on different beats within the bar. Taking just

4 bars from PC’s solo on Paul’s Pal from the Sonny Rollins Tenor Madness session, I analyzed where he

played ahead or behind the constant ride cymbal of Philly Joe Jones. The results show with an amazing level

of consistency how PC placed his notes ahead of the beat on beats 1 and 3 and behind the beat on beats 2 and

4. Ex 10 shows in hundredths of a second how far ahead or behind the notes were placed:

 
 
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 Ex 10 – Bars 5-8 of Paul Chambers solo on Paul’s Pal (Prestige 7047)

My methodology in this analysis used digital audio tools that allowed for much greater accuracy in fractions

of a second than I have displayed here, but the consistency in being ahead and behind the beat on specific

beats is no less remarkable. I believe this demonstrates empirically what a master of rhythm Paul Chambers

was, and how his innate and developed sense of time manifested in the music. The bottom line here is that

Paul Chambers’ time feel and metric control were at the highest level – a level that has also been attributed to

and can be heard in the playing of Charlie Parker.

Conclusion

Among the most prominent stylistic innovators in the jazz idiom, there is little argument that Charlie Parker

deserves a leading position. In considering the stylistic innovators of jazz bass, the same could be said of

Paul Chambers, who represents an important transitional role between bebop and post-bop playing. I believe

these two important musicians have more in common than just their position in the history of the music. I

contend that they embody similar approaches to melody, harmony and expression that have helped them to

achieve their iconic positions in jazz. For these reasons, I wholeheartedly agree with the alliterative assertion

that Paul Chambers was indeed the Bird of the Bass.

 
 
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 References:

Aebersold, Jamey. 1978. The Charlie Parker Omnibook. Atlantic Music Corp.

Berliner, Paul F. 1994. Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation. Chicago: The University of

Chicago Press.

Brown, Ray. 1999. Ray Brown’s Bass Method. Milwaukie: Hal Leonard Corporation.

Coolman, Todd.1985. The Bass Tradition: Past, Present, Future. New Albany, IN: Jamey Aebersold Books.

Goldsby, John. 2002. The Jazz Bass Book. San Francisco: Backbeat Books.

Gourlay, Rob. 2003. Walking in the Footsteps of Paul Chambers. Self-published.

Hunt, Dave. 2010. Jazz Bass Artists of the 1950s. Dearborn Heights, MI: Cranston Publications.

Nurmi, Mikko. Undated. The Music of Paul Chambers. Self-published.

Palmer, Rob. 2012. Mr. P.C.: The Life and Music of Paul Chambers. Bristol, CT: Equinox Books.

Russell, Ross. 1996. Bird Lives: The High Life and Hard Times of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker. New York: Da

Capo Books.

Stinnett, Jim. 2008. Secret Chambers: A Comparative Analysis of Paul Chambers’ Bebop Style.

Self-published.

Discography:

Chambers, Paul. 1956. Whims of Chambers. BLUE NOTE 37647. 1996

Chambers, Paul. 1957. Bass on Top. BLUE NOTE 93182. 2007

Davis, Miles. 1955. The New Miles Davis Quintet. PRESTIGE 7014. 1982

Davis, Miles. 1956. Cookin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet. PRESTIGE 7094. 1987

Rollins, Sonny. 1956. Tenor Madness. PRESTIGE 7047. 1987

 
 
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