Joe Chambers: Once and Future Blue Note

courtesy of Jazz Promo Services

Joe Chambers’ return to Blue Note Records, after Don Was became President following the label’s acquisition by EMI, resulted in the release of his album Samba de Maracatu this past February. Sadly, I only learned about this recording about a month or so ago. However, under pandemic conditions, “better late than never” often seems to figure significantly in the general order of things.

Chambers was a major percussionist during the Sixties, contributing to many of the Blue Note sessions that had been produced by co-founder Alfred Lion. More often than not, these led to highly adventurous albums. Where my own listening has been concerned, I probably first became aware of Chambers through his contributions to three of pianist Andrew Hill’s albums, Andrew!, One for One, and Compulsion. Andrew! saw him as a co-percussionist, complementing the vibraphone work of Bobby Hutcherson with the inventive rhythmic patters of his drum kit.

Samba de Maracatu, on the other hand, sees Chambers sharing his drum kit work with playing the vibraphone, as well as additional percussion resources appropriate for selections such as the title track. Throughout the nine tracks on the album, he leads a trio whose other members are Brad Merritt on keyboards and Steve Haines on bass. Vocalist Stephanie Jordan joins the trio for a “standards” performance of Jay Livingston’s “Never Let Me Go” (words by Ray Evans). The other “standards” track is the opening, “You and the Night and the Music” composed by Arthur Schwartz (without anyone singing the lyrics by Howard Dietz).

The remaining vocal track is “something completely different.” “New York State of Mind Rain” is a rap selection, composed by Chambers and his son Fenton and vocalized by MC Parrain. Since I have never really taken to rap, I view this track as an “outlier.” Fortunately, most of the tracks revive the spirit of Lion’s Blue Note productions. The title track is by Chambers, preceded by another of his original compositions, “Circles.” The other composers from the “Blue Note School” are Hutcherson (“Visions”), Horace Silver (“Ecaroh”), and Wayne Shorter (“Rio”). The remaining track is “Sabah el Nur” (Arabic for “wishing you a morning full of light”), composed by the Austrian jazz guitarist Karl Ratzer.

I have to confess that listening to Samba de Maracatu inspired me to seek out Chambers’ contributions to the Lion-produced Blue Note tracks already in my collection. Nevertheless, there is more than enough to satisfy the attentive listener on this new album. While I have not been completely sold on the new directions pursued under Was’ management, I am glad that he has not tried to exorcise Lion’s spirit. I have already expressed my delight in Was’ 5 Original Albums project, having recently focused on the retrospective Shorter collection. In many ways Samba de Maracatu is a bridge between jazz-as-it-was and jazz-as-it-is-now; and Chambers deserves credit for his effort to lead some of us old-timers across that bridge.