Born: April 22, 1935
Died: January 4, 1969
Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was born April 22, 1935, in Pittsburgh, P.A. and died January 4, 1969, in New York, N.Y. He was the son of Paul Laurence Chambers and Ann Dunbar and had two children named Renee and Eric.
Upon winning Down Beat magazine’s 1956 “New Star Award,” jazz bassist Paul Chambers entered the national spotlight as one of the finest young talents of the hard bop jazz scene. Best known for his eight-year tenure with Miles Davis, Chambers appeared as a guest recording artist with numerous musicians, including the debut albums of John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, and Cannonball Adderly. His bass bow style was largely responsible for carrying forth the bowing approach pioneered by Jimmy Blanton, an early bassist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and reintroducing the arco or bowed style as a featured technique in the modern jazz idiom.
