ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Joe Chambers Returns To Blue Note With ‘Samba de Maracatu’ Album

A legendary jazz sideman, Chambers previously played on landmark Blue albums from artists such as Wayne Shorter and Bobby Hutcherson.

Published on

Joe Chambers Samba de Maracatu album out now

On February 26, the venerated multi-instrumentalist and composer Joe Chambers will release Samba de Maracatu, a notable Blue Note Records return for a significant figure in the label’s history.

The album’s Brazilian flavored title track “Samba de Maracatu,” which is available today and was composed by Chambers and features him performing drums, vibraphone, and percussion with Brad Merritt on keyboards and Steve Haines on bass. The album is a nine-song set of original compositions, standards, and pieces by Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, and Horace Silver.

Joe Chambers - Samba de Maracatu

Click to load video

In the mid-to-late 1960s, Chambers played drums for numerous Blue Note luminaries appearing on some of the decade’s most progressive albums including Shorter’s Adam’s Apple and Etcetera, Hutcherson’s Components and Happenings, Freddie Hubbard’s Breaking Point, Joe Henderson’s Mode for Joe, Sam Rivers’ Contours, Andrew Hill’s Andrew!!!, Donald Byrd’s Fancy Free, and many more.

The label’s owners – Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff – offered Chambers a chance to record his own album for the imprint during that fertile period, but he was riding so high on recording and touring with so many jazz greats that he declined the opportunity. Chambers eventually did release his own Blue Note debut Mirrors in 1998 featuring trumpeter Eddie Henderson, saxophonist Vincent Herring, pianist Mulgrew Miller and bassist Ira Coleman.

On Samba de Maracatu, Chambers asserts himself more as a mallet player, particularly on the vibraphone. Throughout the album, he uses the vibraphone as the lead melodic and improvisational voice that often converses with Merritt’s piano accompaniments and solos. While Samba de Maracatu isn’t a Brazilian jazz album in this strictest sense, Chambers utilizes various rhythms and indigenous Brazilian percussion instruments on several pieces, including the title track, which references the syncretic Afro-Brazil rhythms that were originated in the north-east region of Brazil.

Samba de Maracatu is out on February 26. Scroll down to read the full tracklist and pre-order it here.

“You and the Night and the Music” (Arthur Schwartz/Howard Dietz)
“Circles” (Joe Chambers)
“Samba de Maracatu” (Joe Chambers)
“Visions” (Bobby Hutcherson)
“Never Let Me Go” featuring Stephanie Jordan (Jay Livingston/Ray Evans)
“Sabah el Nur” (Karl Ratzer)
“Ecaroh” (Horace Silver)
“New York State of Mind Rain” ft. MC Parrain (Joe Chambers/Fenton Chambers)
“Rio” (Wayne Shorter)

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Billy Idol - Rebel Yell LP
Rebel Yell (40th Expanded Edition) (Marbled Limited Edition) 2LP
ORDER NOW
Def Leppard - Pyromania 2LP
Def Leppard
Pyromania 2LP
ORDER NOW
The Who - Live At Shea Stadium 1982 3LP
The Who
Live At Shea Stadium 1982 3LP
ORDER NOW
Keane - Hopes And Fears 20th Limited Edition 2LP
Keane
Hopes And Fears 20th Limited Edition 2LP
ORDER NOW
Abba - Waterloo 50th Anniversary
Abba - Waterloo 50th Anniversary (Limited Edition 3 x 7" Box Set)
ORDER NOW
Bob Marley - Songs Of Freedom Limited Edition 6LP Box Set
Bob Marley - Songs Of Freedom Limited Edition 6LP Box Set
ORDER NOW
uDiscover Music - Back To Top
uDiscover Music - Back To Top