Customer Reviews

Bass on Top

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"Bass on Top" is an unique, perhaps even ambitious, album from the blue note catalog, and while it shares some similarities to say a Kenny Burrell album of the period, it's closest relative is the 1960 offering "Soulnik" from the other great bassist of the time: Doug Watkins. However on "Soulnik" Watkins, who at the time rivaled Chambers for the title of best up-and-comer (check out his other leader date: "Watkins at Large", or his work with Donald Byrd, particularly "Byrd in Flight", if you're interested) employed a separate bassist so he could focus on cello. The effect was a rhythm section driven album, that tried to show what an ambitious bassist could do as a leader. "Soulnik" was helped by the presence of Yusef Lateef on flute and oboe, however it's fatal flaw was that Watkins himself neglected the bass duties in favor of a cello he had only started playing three days prior to the recording. Paul Chambers, on the other hand, with "Bass on Top" avoided all the mistakes of the Watkins album (though not consciously as "Bass on Top" was cut in 1957). Chambers does a lot of superb bow work, however he keeps his bread and butter abilities on the bass front and center. One of the really interesting things going on in this album is the playing of Hank Jones. It seems that in effect the bass and piano have switched positions on this date. Instead of the bass accentuating the piano work, Mr. Jones is instead comping to the sublime ever-flowing play of Mr. Chambers, adding a languid flavor to the continuous stream of round walking lines and bowing. The playing of Hank Jones in the lemon running smoothly over the meat of Chambers thick-toned bass. Add Kenny Burrell into the mix, who is wisely contributing to the ambiance of "Bass on Top" by taking on a firmly supporting role, as well as the unobtrusive, supportive drumming of Art Taylor, who can really be heard to great effect on the bonus track "Chamber Mates", and what you've got is a sound that swings in the older sense of the word, you can feel the spirit of Django Reinhardt floating happily in the musical-air. Paul Chambers with "Bass on Top" created his masterpiece, a walking round sound that is as advertised: the bass is on top, and jazz is all the better for it.

A wonderful album. Chambers' use of the bow is ear-opening on "Yesterdays", his plucked statement of the melody on "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" makes for a line as stimulating as the Adderleys' "Work Song". The support of Kenny Burrell, Hank Jones and Art Taylor is perfect.

Paul Chambers in my honest opinion,not to leave out many others,was one of the greatest jazz bassist there was.He had immaculate intonation,perfect pitch and was one the best walkers on bass,melodic,and knew his instrument.Soulful too.Powerful arco =pizzicato bowing/did a lot of glissandos too, that hasnt been replicated much in jazz,great album this is.check out trane on prestige to hear more of Big paul

Having played the upright bass as a youngster in the school band was one of the shinning moments of my life. I still think about it even today and hope one day to make a fresh start because,for reasons outside my control it wasn't happening at that time. This album is a potent reminder of how often misunderstood the bass is as a soloists instrument. This is by no means a solo bass album but the title says it all. Removing all the history of this type that I'm not fully aware of this has Paul Chambers,the man who helped John Coltrane bring his brilliant album Giant Steps to life a couple years later really outdid himself on this occasion. This is one of a handfull of albums in it's era that stands out because it isn't horn based. It's pretty common to turn on a 50's Blue Note album and expect to here a trumpet,saxaphone,clarinet or trombome as the main soloist on the album. Here you don't get that. Paul is not only the leader but putting himself outfront with Kenny Burrell's rhythmic guitar work right beside him. The Jerome Kern standard "Yesterdays" is reinvented to such an extent it's hard to believe it's not a Chambers original. The big surprise is the very musical arco style of playing his upright with a bow. Also the dark harmonics created by the re arrangement of the melody brings out a whole new kind of drama in the tune. Cole Porter's "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home" is given a more rhythmic jazz treatment but it's the chemistry between him and Burrell that really makes the difference in this song. Considering the Charlie Parker connection on "Chasin' The Bird" and Miles Davis' "The Theme" it's interesting how there's constant melodic references to "Epistrophie" in these tunes. Thelonious Monk of course was one of the huge early influences within be-bop and it's a unique idea to bring out Parker's references to his style in those songs as presented here.The remainder of the album maintains the same spirit,especially the Chambers/Burrell original "Chamber Mates" which,for once presents a bonus track that isn't an alternate take of one kind or another. Just when I thought this era of jazz had too much potential to be put in a box this was a really exciting surprise,especially considering my own love of the bass and the musical textures it creates.

It seems somewhere between an insult and utter impertinence to review such an outstanding recording as this. Writing this review, I am reminded of a quote from a famous Hindustani performer (name forgotten) who refused India's highest musical accolade because he deemed those making the decisions weren't sufficiently accomplished (either musically or spiritually).

I own somewhere in the region of 600 CDs of which probably one-fifth are jazz. Last week buried amongst them I found this remarkable CD. I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that I don't ever remember buying it - but then, as no-one gave it to me and I didn't steal it, I MUST have bought it. A big fan of the double-bass, I guess I bought it with some Ron Carter CDs, either that or because of the genius of Kenny Burrell who graces the tracks.

It's always a hard task to quantify and qualify such an abstract medium as jazz (and even harder with high-end jazz), however, this recording is probably one of the top five jazz recordings ever made and arguably so. It is an outstanding example of what is possible within what is essentially a very structured and confined medium (yes I am talking about jazz!). This recording, however, amply demonstrates what splitting the musical atom sounds like, what four top-flight musicians (or rather the right combination, thereof) are capable of creating when placed in a recording studio. Paul Chambers (b), Kenny Burrell (g) Hank Jones (p and Art Taylor (d) each bring something unique and inspired to the collective, whilst at the same time loosing nothing of their own musical personality - remaining autonomous and independently engaged.

To summate, an outstanding and classic performance captured herein that is a definite `sign-post' on the road of jazz. Buy this CD.