Paul Chambers: Paul Chambers: Whims of Chambers – Blue Note 1534

At Blue Note Records in the 1950s, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones were about as common as grits at a Southern diner. And about as noticeable, too—not flashy, just solid and reputable.

Blue Note never had a "house band," but if it had, Chambers and Jones would have been the hard bop core. Art Blakey may have been the more famous and more aggressive Blue Note drummer, and Charles Mingus the more famous (non-Blue Note) bassist, but arguably there is no finer rhythm section in jazz than Chambers and Jones.

Chambers and Jones started playing together with Miles Davis in 1955, and in the next three years alone they wound up together in at least 15 bands led by such giants as Sonny Rollins, Clark Terry, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Sonny Clark, Hank Mobley and Chet Baker.

So here we have Chambers' first recording as a leader. It's a 1956 date with Jones and four other jazz legends. The result, Whims of Chambers, is a terrific little hard bop album that punches all the right buttons, and then some.

First, a note about the players. Yes, John Coltrane is here, but he is not the star, or at least not the only star. In 1956, Coltrane was not yet the popular and adventurous saxman of My Favorite Things (that came five years later), or the spiritual Trane of A Love Supreme (1965), and certainly not the wild man of the later Impulse years. Here, Trane is simply an above-average tenor who plays on four of the seven numbers. Solid, but not spectacular.

Besides Chambers and Jones, the record features three more Blue Note all-stars: pianist Horace Silver, guitarist Kenny Burrell and trumpeter Donald Byrd. They play well together.

On the opening track especially, Byrd sounds a lot like Dizzy Gillespie, spitting out notes high, hard and fast. It's not exactly a surprise because the tune, "Omicron," starts with a Latin-ish intro that sounds remarkably like Dizzy's "Manteca," and then abruptly restarts as a standard bop number.

Everyone gets a turn to shine. You expect bluesy, toe-tapping bop solos from Silver, Burrell, Byrd and Coltrane, and you get them. But you also get a beautiful ballad, "Dear Ann," featuring Burrell's gentle guitar and Byrd's wistful trumpet. And there's a playful exchange between Chambers and Jones, trading two bars each, back and forth, on the weirdly named "Tale of the Fingers." (Weird because Chambers plays the bass with a bow, instead of the usual finger-plucking.)

All in all, this is a really nice set from a group of Blue Note regulars who know exactly how to swing.

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Availability: Unlike many 1950s Blue Notes, you won't find $4-5 copies used copies on Amazon

Cost: $8.99 on MP3, more on used CD