Bass photo of the week (April 6)

Here's a great photo of Paul Chambers playing with the Miles Davis group (of whom he was a member from 1955 to 1963). The photo is from the Life Magazine archives. Chambers has always been one of my favorite bassists and I love his bowed solos (many of which are transcribed by Jim Stinnett).

A couple of interesting things about the photo. First, note the carved scroll on the bass he is playing. I'm not sure what type of bass he played (he probably had several over his career; cf. Scott Lafaro and his Prescott bass). Secondly, notice there is a second bass in the corner. On my last trip home I visited my grandmother who lives in an assisted-living community. There I met a friend of hers, Julius Gill, who played piano for some really biggies on the West Coast in the 50's and 60's. When I told him I was thinking about tuning my bass in fifths (more on this in another post) he mentioned that there was a time when many jazz players were experimenting with alternate tunings. I wonder if the second bass in the corner is a spare, someone else's or perhaps an alternate tuning. One can only conjecture.

Another Great Paul Chambers Video

Here's another video of Paul Chamber (a follow-up to a previous post). This one with the John Coltrane Quartet playing On Green Dolphin Street. Again, check out Paul's acro solo. I found it interesting where he placed slurs and hooked bowings. I'll have to watch it a few more times to get the ideas written down in my transcription of this solo.

Great Video of Paul Chambers

I recently came across the video below of John Coltrane with Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers. I've always thought that Paul Chambers deserves more credit than he receives (something echoed by Marcus Miller in a recent blurb in Down Beat).

What makes this video intriguing to me is that Chambers takes two solos in the video. The first (at about 3:00) is an arco solo. This gives a chance to see his bowing technique. There are books of transcribed arco solos (e.g., Jim Stinnett's books), but these don't tell you much about how Chambers articulated the notes or what his bowings looked like. The second solo (at about 6:30) is a pizzicato solo. Both solos are great, along with the playing of Kelly and the others. Enjoy.