From 1964 until 1971, multi-instrumentalist and composer
Joe Chambers was a house drummer at Blue Note. He was featured on seminal recordings by trumpeters
Freddie Hubbard and
Donald Byrd, saxophonists
Wayne Shorter,
Joe Henderson, and
Sam Rivers, and pianists
McCoy Tyner and
Andrew Hill. He also contributed drums and tunes to ten fine outings by vibraphonist
Bobby Hutcherson, including
Components,
Happenings, and
Oblique. The label offered him a leader date, but
Chambers was so busy he declined. He later expanded his musical reach to the vibraphone, marimba, piano, and Afro-Latin percussion instruments. He contributed to top-shelf outings by many jazzmen including
Charles Mingus,
Charles Tolliver,
Stanley Cowell, and as a member of
Max Roach's M'Boom. In 1998, Blue Note offered him a leader date again and this time
Chambers accepted. He released the acclaimed quintet outing
Mirrors. In the 2010s,
Chambers led sessions for Savant, including 2016's brilliant
Landscapes, a piano/bass/drums trio, and maximally yet tastefully adds voluminous overdubs of vibraphone, marimba, and assorted Afro-Latin percussion instruments.
The title of 2021's
Samba de Maracatu implies a Brazilian jazz album, but isn't one; instead, it reflects the famous samba rhythm birthed in the northern state of Pernambuco, amid the West African diaspora. Alongside bassist
Steve Haines and pianist/synthesist
Brad Merritt,
Chambers puts on a dazzling display of covers, standards, and originals. It opens with a swinging read of the standard "You, The Night and the Music."
Chambers' kit propels
Merritt's slippery piano while
Haines walks the bass before delivering a bright, punchy solo.
Chambers' "Circles'' originally appeared on M'Boom's 1984 Soul Note outing Collage.
Chambers plays drums, vibes, and Brazilian percussion instruments in an airier presentation that draws heavily on samba. His vibes meet
Merritt's keys in colorful harmonic interplay. A version of the title track appeared on
Landscapes.
Chambers employs its carnival rhythm under an expanded tonal palette on the vibes, buoyed by
Merritt's crystalline ostinatos, and
Haines' funky, syncopated bassline.
Chambers pays tribute to former bosses and mentors with stellar readings of
Hutcherson's "Visions" and
Horace Silver's "Ecaroh." The set's biggest surprise is "NY State of Mind Rain." It's a mashup of the iconic
Nas hit and his own "Mind Rain" from 1978's masterful Double Exposure duo outing with organist
Larry Young. (
Nas sampled
Chambers' drums from the cut on his original). The trio adds new harmonic elements and a hard bop rhythm to hip-hop beats and savvy, jazzy rapping from MC Parrain. The set closes with
Wayne Shorter's "Rio," the trio's most intuitive and intimate interaction, as they evolve the rhythm from a languid 4/4 to shimmering, danceable, lyrical bossa. The intricate dialogue between
Haines and
Chambers is so intimate it claims the listener's attention.
Samba de Maracatu is simply the state of rhythm master
Chambers' mind at this moment. He mines the music of the past without nostalgia, and uses it to inform his own evolutionary artistic present with elegance, insight, and masterful musicality. ~ Thom Jurek