Paul Gelder

Paul Chambers - Mosaic Select 5 (1956-59) [3CD BoxSet] {2003 Mosaic Records}
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© 2003 Mosaic Records / Blue Note | MS-005
Jazz / Hard Bop / Bass

Paul Chambers finally receives the Mosaic Select treatment and there's a surprise tossed in with his catalog for fans and connoisseurs: his material recorded for the Transition label. Also included on the Paul Chambers set are the albums Chambers' Music and Whims of Chambers from 1956 and Bass on Top and The Paul Chambers Quintet from 1957. Musicians on these dates ran the gamut from Elvin Jones to Donald Byrd, Clifford Jordan, Horace Silver, Kenny Burrell, Hank Jones, and Art Taylor – an overwhelming number of fellow Detroiters. There are some other odds and ends as well, but most importantly, the Transition material will be of prime interest to John Coltrane fans.

In addition to their positions of importance in the Miles Davis quintet of the mid-fifties, John Coltrane and Red Garland a series of studio dates for Prestige in 1957 and '58. Here, as in several of the others, Paul Chambers is the bassist and Arthur Taylor is the drummer, with Donald Byrd on trumpet making it a quintet. There are only three numbers, the title song "Black Pearls", an extremely swift version of "Lover Come Back To Me", and the fast "Sweet Sapphire Blues" which begins with Garland soloing from the gitgo in a long, upbeat exploration before Trane unfurls his "sheets of sound". Byrd gets into that rapid fire mode, in and among his evenly-cadenced lines and Chambers (plucked) and Taylor (brushes into sticks)…

Recorded in one day (August 23, 1957) at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Hackensack, NJ. This date of ballads and burners features the young tenor saxophonist John Coltrane leading a quartet comprised of pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Arthur Taylor. Liner notewriter (original and reissue) Ira Gitler remarks, “In the ‘50s I was called upon to name many of the untitled songs at Prestige. Traneing In came to me because of the way [Coltrane] homed in after Garland’s opening solo [on the song].” This album is significant in that it took place halfway through Coltrane’s break with Miles Davis’ classic quintet of the ‘50s and it was the same year that the tenor saxophonist hooked up with Thelonious Monk to record the recently discovered live Carnegie Hall masterpiece.

Roy Haynes, Phineas Newborn, Paul Chambers - We Three (1958) {2007 Concord Rudy Van Gelder Remaster}
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© 2007 Concord / New Jazz / Prestige | 0888072301627
Jazz / Hard Bop / Bop

We Three, recorded in a single session on November 14, 1958, was the first American studio date as a bandleader for the diminutive and legendary jazz drummer Roy Haynes, although with pianist Phineas Newborn on board (along with bassist Paul Chambers), it really is a set dominated by Newborn, whose busy, two-handed technique here works in tandem balance with Haynes' cool refinement. Newborn was all about amazing and dazzling piano runs that on some dates created simply too much flash and clutter to allow pieces to flow and breathe properly, but Haynes has always been about grace and flow throughout his career (if a drummer's style can said to be elegant, Haynes fits the bill), and here he rubs off on Newborn, who exercises just enough restraint to keep him in the proper orbit, resulting in a fine album.

John Coltrane - Settin' The Pace (1958) {2008 Prestige Rudy Van Gelder Remaster}
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© 2008 Concord / Prestige | PRCD-30646 | 24-bit Mastering
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Hard Bop

Coltrane does not do the old Dexter Gordon/Leo Parker duet number, "Settin' the Pace," in this set. The overall title merely refers to his preeminence in the jazz world at the time the recording was released in the early Sixties.
Recorded in 1958, this session comes from a time when Trane had already played in the Miles Davis quintet and the Thelonious Monk quartet, and was frequenting Rudy Van Gelder's New Jersey studio in recording situations backed by the Red Garland trio. This threesome–Garland, Paul Chambers, and Arthur Taylor–was a Prestige entity on its own, but had already released such albums with Coltrane as Traneing In and Soultrane. Settin' the Pace, with its heady combination of seldom-done pop material and Jackie McLean's intriguing "Little Melonae," continued the excellent quartet series at a time when Trane was making jazz history at the head of yet another powerful foursome.

Lee Morgan - Volume 2. Sextet (1956) {2007 Rudy Van Gelder Remaster}
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© 2007 EMI / Blue Note | 0946 3 92779 2 6 | 24-bit remaster
Jazz / Hard Bop / Bop / Trumpet

Trumpeter Lee Morgan's second recording as a leader is as notable for the writing of Benny Golson (who composed and arranged four of the six selections) as for the solos of the leader. The set is highlighted by the debut version of "Whisper Not." Actually Morgan, tenor-saxophonist Hank Mobley, pianist Horace Silver, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Charlie Persip and the obscure altoist Kenny Rodgers all play quite well. Morgan was just 18 and starting to come out of the shadow of his early influence Clifford Brown. An above-average hard bop set. The Rudy Van Gelder remastering on the CD reissue makes it especially sweet.

It's hard to believe after hearing the eloquence of "Then I'll Be Tired of You" or the title track, but John Coltrane's ballad mastery was the last of his skills to receive wide appreciation. The notion that Coltrane the balladeer was as commanding as Coltrane the uptempo wizard or Coltrane the blues player finally gained acceptance in the early 60s, when this album first appeared and quickly became an important exhibit in the reconsideration. The extended performances boast additional delights, including Paul Chambers's arco bass on "Stardust," Red Garland's well-paced choruses on "Time After Time," some of Wilbur Harden's best trumpet work on "Love Thy Neighbor," and Freddie Hubbard's earliest on "Then I'll Be Tired of You"…

John Coltrane (1926-67) was the most relentlessly exploratory musician in jazz history. He was always searching, seeking to take his music further in what he quite consciously viewed as a spiritual quest. In terms of public recognition, this quest began relatively late. The tenor saxophonist, a native of North Carolina who later moved to Philadelphia, was 28 when he joined the Miles Davis quintet in 1955, after years of paying dues in the big band and combo of Dizzy Gillespie (where he played alto before switching to tenor) and as a supporting player behind saxophonists Johnny Hodges, Eddie "Cleanhead” Vinson, and Earl Bostic. Coltrane’s anguished tone and multi-noted, rhythmically complex solos with Davis quickly elevated him to the front ranks of jazz…