Mr. P.C.
ID: 1680 - View Book Page - Edit In OJS
Named one of the best books of 2012 by The New York City Jazz Record
Winner of the 2013 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research in Jazz
During his thirteen year career, between 1955 and 1968, Paul Chambers was one of the leading double bass players in jazz, performing with a variety of artists and in a range of the music’s sub-genres. He recorded over three hundred LPs for labels such as Blue Note, Riverside, Mercury and Columbia Records. Chambers performed as a sideman with many of the greatest names in jazz including Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, Joe Henderson, Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Gil Evans and Freddie Hubbard. He recorded a half dozen albums under his own name that included his own compositions, but is probably best remembered for his contribution to the greatest jazz recording of all time: Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue.
Mr. P.C. tells the story of this quiet giant of jazz: his early experiences in Detroit, his rise to jazz celebrity, his time at the top, his ultimate struggle against the tides of change enveloping the music that he loved, and the circumstances surrounding his tragic death, aged 33, in 1969. Featuring interviews with family members, friends and colleagues with the jazz fraternity, this book represents the first time that much of this influential musician’s story has been told. It includes a comprehensive discography detailing all of his recordings both as a sideman and a band leader.
Published: Nov 1, 2012
Series
| Section | Chapter | Authors |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminaries | ||
| Acknowledgements | Rob Palmer | |
| Introduction | ||
| Introduction | Rob Palmer | |
| Chapter 1 | ||
| Motor City Scene | Rob Palmer | |
| Chapter 2 | ||
| New York, the Jazz Corner of the World | Rob Palmer | |
| Chapter 3 | ||
| Chamber's Music | Rob Palmer | |
| Chapter 4 | ||
| Workin' with Miles | Rob Palmer | |
| Chapter 5 | ||
| Bass on Top | Rob Palmer | |
| Chapter 6 | ||
| Milestones | Rob Palmer | |
| Chapter 7 | ||
| Blue Steps | Rob Palmer | |
| Chapter 8 | ||
| Sketches and Beyond | Rob Palmer | |
| Chapter 9 | ||
| After Miles | Rob Palmer | |
| Chapter 10 | ||
| Big Paul | Rob Palmer | |
| End Matter | ||
| Epilogue | Rob Palmer | |
| Notes | Rob Palmer | |
| Discography | Rob Palmer | |
| Bibliography | Rob Palmer | |
| Index | Rob Palmer | |
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Reviews
Mr PC is a highly authoritative text, constructed with painstaking attention to detail and lucidity. ...if there is one book that will alter perceptions of the place of both
Paul Chambers and his instrument in the jazz pantheon, then this is it.
Kevin Le Gendre, Echoes, 2013
'...the research into Chambers' final years is enlightening and this is an excellent opportunity to re-evaluate his massive contribution.'
Jazzwise, June 2013
Fellow bassist Rob Palmer has taken Chambers as a primary subject for his book and treated us to an exhaustive account of the great bassist’s life and music. Palmer gives us insightful reviews of the sounds made in many record dates in which Chambers participated. As a jazz musician, the author is able to provide his readers with technical accounts of the music on these recordings, not just the subjective impressions that could come from a typical jazz journalist. His work also sports a huge discography, which by itself is worth the price of the book.
This book should prove indispensable to students of jazz bass, historians of modern jazz, and fans who love hard bop. It constitutes a reference work that every music library should have.
Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association
If you are a fan of Jazz from this era, you simply can’t go wrong using a copy of Mr. P. C. The Life and Music of Paul Chambers as your aural narrative through the music associated with Paul’s career.
It’s not often that a book about Jazz comes along that offers both a cogent and coherent biography of one of the principals of the post World War II Modern Jazz movement, as well as, an illuminating [and easy-to-read] guide to what’s going on with and within the music.
Rob’s book on the life and music of Paul Chambers is one of those rare occasions when this hoped for alignment occurs and, as such, you may wish to include it on your gift list for the upcoming holiday season.
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