Paul Chambers
Acoustic Bass Solo on
Smoke Stack

About

Paul Chambers's acoustic bass solo is the closing of 7 solos on this recording, following Wynton Kelly's piano. Spanning four choruses of the 12-bar Blues form at a bright 233 BPM with a swing feel in F, the solo runs approximately 49 seconds. The performance, stretching to over nine minutes, captures the essence of the hard bop blowing session format, where musicians took extended turns over simple harmonic frameworks, each soloist feeding off the energy generated by their predecessors. Paul Chambers was 21 to 22 years old at the time of this 1957 recording.

Paul Chambers was 21 to 22 years old at the time.