Rob Palmer

Mr. P.C.

During his 13 year career between 1955 and 1968, Paul Chambers was one of the leading double bass players in jazz, performing with a wide variety of artists and a range of the music's sub-genres and recording over 300 LPs for labels such as Blue Note, Riverside, Mercury and Columbia Records. Chambers performed as a sideman with some 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 LPs under his own name including 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.: The Life and Music of Paul Chambers tells the story of this quiet giant of jazz; his early experiences in Detroit, his early 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. Using material from other literary sources and 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. The book includes a comprehensive discography detailing all of his recordings both as a sideman and bandleader.