Cashbox : 10/01/1960

Emphasis here is on the solid rock bass playing of Chambers. His big buttery sound has been recorded well. But don’t neglect the excellent playing of Curtis Fuller, Wynton Kelly, Lex Humphries, Yusef Lateef and Tommy Turrentine, who set up the scores for Chambers’ solos. They all contribute to the success of the session, especially Lateef whose five tunes are used in the date. Good jazz package.

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St. Paul Recorder
Unknown : 10/21/1960

Whatever happened to the good, old descriptive titles that enabled the purchaser to order music for any specific purpose? There was Music for Gracious Living, Music to Make You Misty, and even Music to Listen to Barney Kessel By. With the parties of the new social season in full sway, it is time to think about recordings with titles like Music to Give Parties By. Since no such album has been released, the next best thing is to dig through the current releases and find some of the better examples.

If the party calls for a listening session, then a good choice might be Vee-Jay’s 1st Bassman, the Paul Chambers album. Always a strong force on the music scene, Paul extracted much musical maturity from his long relationship with the Miles Davis organization.

The album uses five originals from the pen of Yusef Lateef, with Chambers showcasing his amazing certainty as a bass soloist. This one rates as an above average effort of a man whose “average” exceeds most players “best.”

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Down Beat : 12/08/1960
John A. Tynan : 4 stars

This is a plunging, driving, and sometimes wildly swinging session. Below and throughout it all is the heartbeat of Chambers‘ bass. In his hands the instrument becomes an eloquent and flexibly voiced horn in solo and a throbbing, metronomic pulse in section. He is afforded ample elbow space here.

The choice of sidemen is well-nigh ideal. Lateef is a pungent exponent of tenor jazz at its most virile and persuasive. Fuller is one of contemporary jazz’s more expressive and warm-toned trombonists. Turrentine, the least-known man on the date, proves a compelling trumpeter with warm tone and provocative ideas. Kelly‘s work is so consistently good, he is in danger of being taken for granted. In this set, he is up to par. More comment than that would be redundancy.

Blessed is the one track on the album in which Chambers is featured in extensive bowing. It is a low-keyed ballad, and the bassist’s intonation is none too sure. Moreover, the tempo makes it all the more lugubrious. Lateef turns in a good job on flute, and Turrentine is heard in a soberly stated muted solo. In one respect – the dreary feeling – this is a letdown.

There is one aspect to this album that should not be ignored: All the tunes are by Lateef and are published by the same company, Conrad. Chambers has written originals in the past; it is curious that he should not have chosen to pen at least one for this, his own record date.

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Liner Notes by Barbara J. Gardner

Every Chamber of Commerce in America believes it has something to crow about in its city. Pittsburgh has steel, Milwaukee has beer, Grinders Switch has Minnie Pearl and Detroit shouts about its cars. Yet Detroit each year pours into the mainstream of American culture an unsung export – the emerging, revitalizing jazz musician. The flow is steady, reliable and unpretentious and Detroit accepts it as a common, secondary product. Yet, there has been nothing either common or secondary about the national and world acceptance of Detroit’s jazzmen and their contribution toward keeping jazz a forward-moving, progressive art form. In 1959 and early 1960 most of the leading big bands and combos had at least one Detro-ite in the ranks. Count Basie, Miles Davis, the Modern Jazz Quartet, the Jazztet and the Adderley Quintet, to name a few, all owed a debt to Detroit.

The entire musically prolific Jones family is a Detroit contribution. Brothers pianist Hank, drummer Elvin, and trumpeter Thad are among the jazzmen most in demand. Bernard McKinney, trombonist; tenor man Yusef Lateef; trombonist Curtis Fuller; young trumpeter Donald Byrd; the Adderley pianist Barry Harris; Alvin Jackson and his brother, vibes player, Milt – all those active musicians are products from the jazz assembly line in the Motor City.

And then there is Paul Chambers. Had Detroit nothing more to its credit than the musical spawning and nursing of Chambers, then the contribution would have been a worthy one.

“The bass has been buried in the rhythm section of jazz groups too long. It is high time someone devoted his career to the great melodic and emotional potential of this instrument.” These words must have been uttered by the often-quoted Mr. Somebody Sometimes and he might just as well have directed his wish to Paul Chambers, for in 1954, Chambers picked up this specific challenge and since that time, the jazz bass instrument has never been the same.

As a solid, rock-rooted swinging, Paul Chambers is unquestionably to be regarded in awe and wonder. He is Foundation Personified in the rhythm section; keeper of the beat; coordinator of the pulsating background in which the soloists vibrate.

As a soloist, he is imaginative and adventurous. Never satisfied to merely “walk” and “stroll” (commendable attributes when well executed) Chambers urges his bass to skip and gallop unafraid of foreign soil.

It is to be expected that Chambers should record an album of original tunes. The moods, effects and interpretations are interesting and varied. This album contains elements of departure and experimentation. Yet there is enough of the familiar swinger still remaining.

If you have ever wondered what Paul Chambers would do if he were free to choose his man and his tunes, you have your first answer here.