Bass On Top

About

<i>Bass On Top</i> is one of only three albums Paul Chambers led for Blue Note, though the bassist lent support on hundreds of the label’s sessions for other musicians. Blue Note may have been reluctant to consider Chambers’ bass for leading roles, but <i>Bass On Top</i> proves that he had enough soul and cunning on his instrument to captivate an audience for the duration of an album. On “Dear Old Stockholm” and “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To,” Chambers’ climbs and glides, his instrument carrying melodies as supple and textured as anything a tenor saxophone could muster. “Confessin’” finds the bassist digging into the blues, a form to which he and his instrument were well suited, while “The Theme” features his bowed solo, an innovation that Chambers all but introduced to jazz. Drummer Art Taylor, guitarist Kenny Burrell, and pianist Hank Jones provide respectful support. Best of all is “Yesterdays,” a moody bowed piece that begins as a somber collaboration between Burrell, Jones and Chambers, and goes on to plumb the very depths of this master-class musician’s playing.

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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