Song:Dear Old Stockholm
Album:Bass On Top
Bassist Paul Chambers was one of the top sidemen of the 50s best known as part of The Miles Davis Quintet from 1955-63. He played with lots of other musicians and recorded a few albums for Blue Note including Bass On Top in 1957. He is somewhat forgotten today because he died prematurely. He was born Apr. 22, 1935 in Pittsburgh and was raised in Detroit after his mother died. He started out playing baritone horn and tuba in school and took up the bass in 1949. He studied with a bassist from the Detroit Symphony, was part of the Detroit String Band and studied at Cass Technical High School. In 1955, he went to New York to play with tenor sax player Paul Quinchette. Chambers' favourite bassist was Jimmy Blanton from Duke Ellington's band. He joined the Miles Davis band in 1955 and played on most of Davis' albums through 1963. And of course that's him playing bass on So What from Kind Of Blue. He recorded with many others including Sonny Clark, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan. A lot of those recordings were at Blue Note. The 1957 album Bass On Top was the third of his four albums for Blue Note with Kenny Burrell on guitar, Hank Jones on piano and Art Taylor on drums. It's recommended to all jazz fans. Chambers also recorded for Vee Jay. In 1963, he left Davis for Wynton Kelly and remained there until 1968. And he continued to play sessions. Paul Chambers developed drug and alcohol problems and died of tuberculosis on Jan. 4, 1969 at age 33. A sad and premature end for a respected jazz musician. Here's a video for Dear Old Stockholm by Paul Chambers.
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