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Jeff Chambers

A talented and versatile bassist, Jeff Chambers is known for his impeccable timing, dynamic rhythms and improvisational dexterity. Chambers musical style is both lyrical and playful. With his distinct touch, smooth sound and innovative sensibility he travels the vast tradition of rhythm-fueled bass playing, skillfully referencing his predecessors while exploring new musical territory.

Chambers masterfully breaks the conventionally accepted boundaries of his instrument and forges new melodic possibilities. According to San Francisco Chronicle music critic Phil Elwood, "Jeff Chambers makes playing upright bass look and sound so easy with his rhythmic sense and melodic vocabulary".

Chambers facility to play both acoustic and electric bass allows him to express himself fluidly in a variety of idioms, including Bebop, Funk, Latin, Blues, Reggae and Fusion. In any genre, Jeff chambers is an improvisational master. "When I am playing music I have one destination, but many routes. It doesn't matter which one I choose; there are many ways to go. The musicians are listening to one another. I can walk with them; then I can venture off, saying am going this way. I'll meet you down the path. Sometimes one is a leader, then another. We switch up. The path is clearer if I close my eyes. I don't have to see the path; I just have to hear the path."

Chambers began his career in Milwaukee on the electric bass with the renowned pianist and vibraphonist Buddy Montgomery. He studied at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music where he first began to play acoustic bass. His combo, #8, won first place in the College Division Awards in 1976, and the next year at the University at Notre Dame. But for Chambers, the chance to play full time with Buddy Montgomery offered an invaluable education and a quick entrance into the international world of jazz.

In 1978, he left the Conservatory and entered the University of Buddy Montgomery, touring extensively with the master. Since then, Chambers has toured all over the United States, Canada, Central and South America, Europe, Russia, Australia and Japan, performing with many of the world's most prominent jazz musicians.

He has played at venues such as the Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland); Concord Jazz Festival (CA); Monterey Jazz Festival (CA); Fujitsu Jazz Festival (Japan), the Newport Jazz Festival (RI) and countless others. He has also performed for the Black Entertainment Television Network at the St. Lucia and Anguilla Jazz Festivals.

Known as one of the foremost bassist in the country, he has played with many great jazz artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Les McCann, Eddie Harris, Benny Carter, Tommy Flanagan, Joe Henderson, Dakota Staton, McCoy Tyner, Joe Williams, Little Jimmie Scott, Tony Williams, Frank Morgan, Dr. Dorothy Donegan, Kenny Burrell, James Moody, Nat Adderley, Milt Jackson, John Hendricks, Benny Golson, Larry Coryell, Hank Crawford, Abbey Lincoln, Ernestine Anderson, Doug Carn, Don Cherry, Clifford Jordan, Laurindo Almeido, Linda Hopkins, Teddy Edwards, Roy McCurdy, Richie Cole, Slide Hampton, Jeff Hamilton, George Coleman, Mel Lewis, Archie Shepp, Cedar Walton, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ahmad Jamal, Pharoah Sanders, Russell Malone, Red Holloway, Wallace Roney, Houston Person, Curtis Fuller, Hadley Caliman and many many others.

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Album Review

Alex Conde: Descarga for Bud

Read "Descarga for Bud" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Pianist, composer and arranger Alex Conde has a unique identity; he is a flamenco musician who combines flamenco with his jazz background. After the broad Latin fusion of Origins (Uprising/Ropeadope, 2018), Conde has returned to a focus on classic bebop. Like Descarga For Monk (Zoho Music, 2015), the pianist revisits a foundational bebop pianist. And the recording sessions took place in Oakland, with an ensemble which duplicates many of the players on the Monk sessions. Pianist Bud Powell ...

4
Album Review

Alex Conde: Descarga for Bud

Read "Descarga for Bud" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Having demonstrated his mastery of flamenco-flavored jazz on Origins (Uprising/Ropeadope, 2018) by featuring principally his own compositions, pianist Alex Conde has once again turned back to a bebop master of old--continuing a project he began with Descarga for Monk (Zoho Music) back in 2015. In this instance Bud Powell is the dedicatee, and Conde brings characteristic Latin flair to nine of Powell's compositions in a way that is both accomplished and engaging. There is a certain irony to ...

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Profile

Jeff Chambers' Chosen Alternative: The Therapies of Tijuana

Read "Jeff Chambers' Chosen Alternative: The Therapies of Tijuana" reviewed by Arthur R George


Jeff Chambers, long a go-to jny: San Francisco Bay Area bassist, looked at death closely and decided it was not yet his time. In 2017 his medical chart revealed Stage IV prostate cancer, commonly and fearfully an endgame diagnosis. Prostate cancer affects African-American men with almost twice the frequency as other races, and is almost twice as likely to be fatal. Chambers had waited for two years with self-treatments before giving up, and booked himself into Tijuana, Mexico, at an ...

176
Album Review

Marlena Shaw: Lookin' for Love

Read "Lookin' for Love" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger


In today's garden of vocalists, there are many pretty flowers. Sweet and delicate, they line up in perfumed rows, but many are unlikely to make it past the first frost. Then there's the flowering tree, standing apart, with its roots deeply anchored in the ground--this one endures every weather, delivering the soulful beauty and reassurance of the survivor. That's Marlena Shaw.Shaw sings with the ease of absolute mastery, and each feeling she expresses rings true: she's been there, ...

176
Album Review

Marlena Shaw: Live in Tokyo

Read "Live in Tokyo" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger


The very young 441 Records has a great plan: bringing Sony and JVC Japanese releases to wider audiences... and this one is a corker. But then, so is Marlena Shaw, a fascinating performer who takes absolute (yet warm and friendly) command of every audience lucky enough to see her. This live CD, recorded at the B-flat club in Tokyo in 2002, conveys much of the excitement, but necessarily misses a few crucial aspects: her elementally expressive face and body, her ...

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Descarga for Bud

Sedajazz Records
2021

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Lookin' for Love

441 Records
2004

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Live in Tokyo

441 Records
2003

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