Paul Chambers
bass
Bassist who grew up in Detroit and played in Miles Davis’s band in the late 1950s; Barry says Chambers learned to play at his house.
- mentions
- 14
- recordings
- 9
- Barry speaking
- 8
What Barry says
Barry says Paul Chambers learned to play at his house in Detroit, starting from nothing: he owned a bass but could not play it. He names Chambers with Roland Hanna, Sonny Red, Donald Byrd and Joe Henderson among the young musicians who came to him.
Believe: a talk to musicians7:26The last train to Monk: an interview8:268:58Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle3:30Barry Harris, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program ¶103
To people who doubt him he points to the 1958 Down Beat yearbook, which has a half-page picture of Chambers beside a piece saying most Detroit musicians came through Barry. He has kept a copy to show doubters.
Believe: a talk to musicians6:517:26The Spirit of Bebop23:3024:02Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶74unknown (JazzTimes; the byline is missing on the current site), Barry Harris: Teacher Man ¶7
He urges his interviewer to hear a 1957 recording of Bud Powell with Donald Byrd, Phil Woods, Art Taylor and Chambers on bass. He calls it one of the best things he heard that year and plays along with it at the piano.
The last train to Monk: an interview11:3612:13Victor L. Schermer (interviewer); Barry Harris, Barry Harris: Iconic Jazz Pianist and Keeper of the Flame ¶7
On that record, Barry says, Chambers takes a solo better than any he took with Miles Davis, whose band changed once Miles fell for Ahmad Jamal’s style.
Having the record put on for a class in Rome, he asks whether the students have really listened to Chambers on it, and complains that the room’s sound system will not let them hear the bass.
The 2016 workshop, part 3: Monk’s tunes, not his style27:1229:1729:5032:13
He remembers Chambers, like Yusef Lateef, leaving Detroit to make his name elsewhere around the time Barry joined Cannonball Adderley.
In his own words
Paul Chambers learned to play at my house. He didn’t know how to play at all.
All these people came to my house, because they knew I’d be sitting at my piano. Paul Chambers learned to play at my house.
Down Beat Magazine in 1958 or 1957 had a yearbook (I think it’s ‘58), and in this yearbook there’s a picture of Paul Chambers half the page.
When you hear the solo that Paul Chambers takes... he’s never taking a solo that good with Miles Davis.
You should hear Donald Byrd, Paul Chambers, Art Taylor, Bud Powell and Phil Woods. Man, you gotta hear that.
Every mention
14 moments in the recordings, 8 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
The last train to Monk: an interview
Believe: a talk to musicians
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle
- 3:30
Barry says he taught Chambers (caption ‘Chall Chambers’) how to play.
The Spirit of Bebop
- 23:30
Among the musicians who came to his house; he keeps the 1958 Down Beat yearbook for doubters.
The 2016 workshop, part 3: Monk’s tunes, not his style
Interview: Bud Powell and teaching singers
- 10:13
Speaker unclear
Bud Powell’s young rhythm sections of the period, Chambers and Sam Jones among them; host or Barry speaking.
- 0:33
Interviewer
Ben Sidran introduces Some Soul from The Amazing Bud Powell, featuring Chambers and Art Taylor.
- 7:54
Interviewer
Sidran back-announces the track: Bud Powell on piano, Chambers on bass, Art Taylor on drums.
Interview: Bird, Hawkins, Monk and New York
- 0:31
Interviewer
The same Sidran introduction of Some Soul with Chambers and Art Taylor, in the upload dated 1988.
Barry Harris Spanish TV
- 7:18
Someone else
The Spanish TV narrator names Chambers, Donald Byrd and Hank Mobley among Barry’s good friends.
Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future
- 2:46
Someone else
A narrator’s roll call of jazz greats on Detroit PBS lists Chambers among the bassists.
In the interviews and notes
Barry tells Aaron Graves that young players knew he would always be at the piano and so came to his house; he names Roland Hanna, Sonny Red and Donald Byrd, and says Chambers learned to play there.
He recalls a Down Beat yearbook, probably 1958, with a half-page picture of Chambers next to a piece on the Midwest saying most Detroit musicians came from Barry; his house, he says, was a mecca for musicians.
Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶74Ted Panken, For Barry Harris’ 82nd Birthday ¶15
In JazzTimes he says most Detroiters came through his house, and that the 1958 DownBeat yearbook has a page with Chambers in which Chambers talks about a young pianist who teaches all the others.
unknown (JazzTimes; the byline is missing on the current site), Barry Harris: Teacher Man ¶7
Asked for favourite recordings, Barry names Bird, Bud and Monk, then the band of Bud Powell, Phil Woods and Donald Byrd with Art Taylor on drums and Chambers on bass; the editors identify it as Live at Birdland 1957.
Victor L. Schermer (interviewer); Barry Harris, Barry Harris: Iconic Jazz Pianist and Keeper of the Flame ¶6Victor L. Schermer (interviewer); Barry Harris, Barry Harris: Iconic Jazz Pianist and Keeper of the Flame ¶7
He places Chambers, with Yusef Lateef and others, among the great musicians who left Detroit around the time Barry came back from Max Roach’s group and joined Cannonball Adderley.
Ted Panken lists Chambers among the young musicians hungry for information who frequented Barry’s house, along with Joe Henderson, Louis Hayes, Roy Brooks, Lonnie Hillyer and Charles McPherson.
Charles McPherson names Chambers, Lonnie Hillyer, Roy Brooks and Doug Watkins among the young Detroit players at Barry’s house, where there was nearly always some music going on.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶204Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶210
Drummer Leroy Williams first heard Barry in a New York club playing a duo with Chambers, and told the friend he was with that this was how the music is supposed to be played.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶66Andrew Velez, Barry Harris: A Thousand Percent Music Man ¶12
Mark Stryker describes Barry quickly becoming a leader among Detroit’s jazz players and guiding peers a little younger than himself, Chambers, Donald Byrd and Curtis Fuller among them, who all went on to fame.
Tommy Flanagan recalls Klein’s Show Bar in Detroit, where Yusef Lateef, Pepper Adams and Chambers played.
Ted Panken (interviewer); Tommy Flanagan, Tommy Flanagan ¶46
Recordings that name them
Barry’s performances and records in the archive that credit or name them.
- Barry Harris Sextet 6/4/1968 “Bulls-Eye!” | Billy Higgins, Kenny Dorham, Pepper Adams, Paul Chambers2023, 7 min YouTube
- 04/06/1968 - Pepper Adams & Barry Harris2022, 33 min YouTube
- Barry Harris Spanish TVMadrid, 1988, 47 min YouTube
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.
- 12.2Know the song; learn many songs; find your key5
- 11.1Two hands together4
- 14.3Learn from the masters by ear; study the small things4
- 15.4The lineage4
- 1.5The rhythm section3
- 12.3Phrase like speech; place entries in time; ballads3
- 1.4Triplets and thinking in six2
- 11.2Keep the left hand low and make it interesting2