Joe Chambers

Joe Chambers is an American jazz drummer, pianist, vibraphonist and composer. In the 1960s and 1970s, Chambers gigged with many high-profile artists such as Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter, and Chick Corea and played on several iconic Blue Note albums of the 1960s. During this period, his compositions were featured on albums by Freddie Hubbard and Bobby Hutcherson. Chambers has released sixteen albums as a bandleader and was a founding member of Max Roach's M'Boom percussion ensemble.
He has also taught, including at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, where he led the Outlaw Band. In 2008, he was hired to be the Thomas S. Kenan Distinguished Professor of Jazz in the Department of Music at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He is a retired educator and works as a jazz musician, composer, and leader.

Early life

Joe Chambers was born in Stoneacre, Virginia in 1942. However, Chambers was mostly raised in Chester, Pennsylvania. He attended the Philadelphia Conservatory for one year before moving to Washington, DC. The classical composer Talib Rasul Hakim was his younger brother. The first instrument he played was the piano before he moved on to playing the vibraphone and drums. He was inspired by various jazz drummers, such as Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, and Elvin Jones.
Chambers lived in Washington from 1960 to 1963. Chambers’ earliest gigs were recorded during the time of his eighteenth year when he toured with Bobby Lewis and the JFK Quintet. Chambers was mainly working at the Bohemian Caverns in Washington, D.C., where he spent six nights a week playing gigs.

Music career

Chambers was recognized by Freddie Hubbard, who encouraged him to move to New York City in 1963, where he played with various artists such as Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Giuffre, and Andrew Hill. Drummer Tony Williams set Chambers up with a recording of “Mirrors,” where he gained exposure and joined Blue Note. His debut recording with Blue Note was on Freddie Hubbard's album Breaking Point, which also included his composition Mirrors. He soon joined Blue Note as the house percussionist and drummer. In 1964, Chambers gigged at Minton’s Playhouse alongside Blue Mitchell and Chick Corea.
In 1970, he joined Max Roach’s percussion ensemble M’Boom. The group often practiced at Warren Smith’s Studio on West 21st Street, where Chambers first learned the vibraphone. He played alongside Sonny Rollins, Tommy Flanagan, Charles Mingus, and Art Farmer. Chambers created the Super Jazz Trio with Flanagan and bassist Reggie Workman. Chambers debut recoding as a band leader came in 1974 with The Almoravid.
In the late 1970s, he helped lead a band alongside Larry Young, an organist. In the early 1980s, Chambers collaborated with artists such as Chet Baker and Ray Mantilla.
Chamber was hired as instructor in 1990 at the New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC. He later taught at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. He currently does not teach and is focusing on his career in jazz. In 2021 he returned to Blue Note and released his album, Samba de Maracatu. He released Dance Kobina in 2023.

Achievements and legacy

During his time at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, Chambers was titled the first Thomas S. Kenan Distinguished Professor of Jazz in 2008. In 1994, the Nas song NY State of Mind sampled a piano loop from Mind Rain on Chambers's 1978 album ''Double Exposure.''

Discography

As leader

1973: The Almoravid
1976: New World
1977: Double Exposure
1979: Joe Chambers and Friends: Chamber Music
1979: Joe Chambers Plays Piano
1981: New York Concerto featuring Yoshiaki Masuo
1991: Phantom of the City – live
1995: Isla Verde with Trio Dejaiz
1998: Mirrors
2002: Urban Grooves
2005: The Outlaw
2009: Horace to Max
2012: Joe Chambers Moving Pictures Orchestra
2015: Landscapes
2020: Samba de Maracatu
2022: ''Dance Kobina''
As sideman

With Franck Amsallem

Summer Times

With Chet Baker

Peace

With Donald Byrd

Mustang! – recorded in 1964-66
Fancy Free – recorded in 1969

With Chick Corea

Tones for Joan's Bones – recorded in 1966

With Stanley Cowell

Brilliant Circles – recorded in 1969
Back to the Beautiful

With Miles Davis

The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions – recorded in 1968-69

With Art Farmer

Something Tasty

With Don Friedman

Metamorphosis

With Jimmy Giuffre

New York Concerts

With Joe Henderson

Mode for Joe
Big Band – recorded in 1992-96

With Andrew Hill

Andrew!!! – recorded in 1964
Compulsion!!!!! – recorded in 1965
One For One – recorded in 1965-70

With Freddie Hubbard

Breaking Point

With Bobby Hutcherson

Dialogue
Components – recorded in 1965
Happenings – recorded in 1966
Total Eclipse – recorded in 1968
Now!, – recorded in 1969
Oblique – recorded in 1967
Spiral – recorded in 1965-68
Patterns – recorded in 1968
Medina, – recorded in 1969
Blow Up,

With Robin Kenyatta

Nomusa

With Lee Konitz

Figure & Spirit – recorded in 1976

With Hubert Laws

Wild Flower

With Ray Mantilla

Mantilla

With M'Boom

Re: Percussion
M'Boom
Collage
To the Max! – recorded in 1990–91

With Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert
Something Like a Bird
Me, Myself an Eye

With Grachan Moncur III

Shadows,

With Karl Ratzer

In Search Of The Ghost,

With Sam Rivers

Contours, – recorded in 1965

With Jeremy Steig

Lend Me Your Ears,

With Woody Shaw

In the Beginning – recorded in 1965
The Iron Men with Anthony Braxton – recorded in 1977

With Archie Shepp

Fire Music
On This Night
New Thing at Newport – recorded in 1965. also features a set by John Coltrane.
For Losers
Kwanza
On Green Dolphin Street

With Wayne Shorter

Et Cetera – recorded in 1965
The All Seeing Eye – recorded in 1965
Adam's Apple – recorded in 1966
Schizophrenia – recorded in 1967

With Heiner Stadler

Brains On Fire Vol. 1 – recorded in 1966-71

With John Stubblefield

Prelude

With Ed Summerlin

Sum of the Parts

With The Super Jazz Trio

The Super Jazz Trio
Something Tasty
The Standard

With Hidefumi Toki

City

With Charles Tolliver

Paper Man – recorded in 1968

With McCoy Tyner

Tender Moments – recorded in 1967

With Miroslav Vitous

Infinite Search, – recorded in 1969

With Tyrone Washington

Natural Essence – recorded in 1967

With Joe Zawinul

Zawinul – recorded in 1970