Paul Chambers

Among other achievements Chambers can claim to be the first jazzman to earn dual reknown as an arco (using the bow) and pizzicato bass soloist. Born in Pittsburgh April 22, 1935, he started playing music on the baritone horn for his school and later took up the tuba. "I got along pretty well, but it's quite a job to carry it around in those long parades, and I didn't like the instrument that much." So Paul became a string bassist, around 1949 in Detroit, where he had been living for a while since the death of his mother. He started doing club jobs with Thad Jones, Barry Harris in Detroit. In 1952, he began taking lessons with a bassist in the Detroit Symphony. He did some "classical" work himself, with a group called the Detroit String Band which was a rehearsal symphony orchestra. From 1952 to '55 he played in several student groups sometimes on baritone sax. Paul Chambers if most well known for being Miles Davis's main bassist through out the 50's and early 60's, and did many side projects with John Coltrane, such as "Gaint Steps", and many recording with "The Red Garland Trio". He was one of the most in demand bassist of the 50's and was a pioneer of the uprightbass. Chambers biggest influence was Jimmy Blanton for bass, but he adapted many of Charlie Parkers ideas in his own bass soloes and was one of the first bassist to bring bebop phrasing to bowed bass soloes.