Chambers, Joe (actually, Joseph Arthur)

Chambers, Joe (actually, Joseph Arthur), jazz drummer, composer; b. Stoneacre, Va., June 25, 1942. He started playing in 1951, and turned professional three years later; he played frequently in Philadelphia with his family. He worked in the JFK Quintet in the D.C. area (1960–63), then moved to N.Y. (1963), studied composition and played with Jimmy Giuffre, James Brown, the Shirelles, Eric Dolphy (1963), Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard (1964–66), Wayne Shorter (1965–67), Herbie Hancock, Charles Lloyd, Archie Shepp, and Joe Henderson, among many others He worked with Bobby Hutcherson (1965–70), writing some much admired compositions for him. He was a founding member of Max Roach’s M’Boom in 1970. From 1971 to 1973, he worked with Charles Mingus, and then in 1974 began leading his own groups. Also in 1974, he performed his classical-jazz suite, The Al-moravid, at Carnegie Hall. In 1975 he received a composition grant from the NEA. In the early 1980s, he worked with Chet Baker and Ray Mantilla’s Space Station. He has taught at the New School for Social Research since 1986 and has not performed or recorded very often since.

Discography

Almoravid (1973); New World (1976); Double Exposure (1977); N.Y. Concerto (1981); Phantom of the City (1991). JFK Quintet: New Jazz Frontiers from Washington (1961); Young Ideas (1962). B. Hutcherson: Dialogue (1965). J. Henderson: Mode for Joe (1966). McCoy Tyner: Tender Moments (1967). L. Konitz: Figure and Spirit (1976).

—Lewis Porter