Joe Chambers: The Almoravid [LIFE GOES ON]

Why you'll love it

Chambers' first album under his own name puts drums and percussion right up front in a set of rhythm-heavy post-bop. The lineup includes Woody Shaw, Cedar Walton, George Cables, Cecil McBee and Richard Davis, with songs by Joe Zawinul and Andrew Hill alongside his own.

About the album

Joe Chambers made his recording debut in 1964 on Freddie Hubbard's Breaking Point, and spent the following decade as one of the most in-demand drummers in modern jazz. When he finally stepped out as a leader, he built the album around rhythm: marimbas, congas and percussion stacked up around his kit like a small orchestra.

Three different sessions feed into it. The 1971 date brings in Woody Shaw, Garnett Brown and Harold Vick on horns, with George Cables on electric piano and Cecil McBee on bass for Joe Zawinul's "Early Minor" and the brooding "Medina." The 1973 sessions add Cedar Walton, Richard Davis, Walter Booker and Ray Mantilla, driving "The Almoravid" and Andrew Hill's "Catta," while the short "Gazelle Suite" puts Booker and the percussion section in the spotlight. Don Schlitten co-produced with Chambers, who wrote four of the six pieces, and both Richard Davis and Walter Booker play electric bass.

It's a drummer's record in the best sense, all pulse and texture. Play it loud enough and you'll find yourself tapping along on the counter, which is exactly how we lost our last pen.

Also at Kops: more Joe Chambers on vinyl · browse Modern Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Life Goes On Records (cat# LIFE022).