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Paul Chambers


mrjazzman

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2 hours ago, mrjazzman said:

I have a photo of looks like Paul Chambers in a local New York Band playing Baritone Sax with my dad on Trumpet.   I never knew Mr. PC played BS. The photo is too large to drag here or I can't figure out how to do that. Can anybody talk about that.

If you want to send me the photo I can probably post it. 

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I just read Mr. PC's Wikipedia Bio.  Looks like early on he played some Baritone Sax and some Tuba. Case closed.  My Dad was Elmon Wright, son of Lamar Wright Sr, brother of Lamar Wright Jr.  Dad played in Diz's be bop big band along with Milt Jackson, Chano Pozo, James Moody, John Lewis and others from '48-'50. My Grandfather, Lamar Wright Sr. was with Cab Calloway for many years and can be seen in the film Stormy Weather. My Uncle, Lamar Wright Jr. was with Charlie Barnett and later on did some work with Dexter.  I'm  guessing the photo is from late 50's early 60's, some little pick up band in NYC club.  Like Cootie Williams and Cat Anderson, my Grandfather was known for hitting very high notes. And wouldn't you know it, there's an article on my Grandfather in Wikipedia................

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Case closed? Wiki mentions that Chambers played baritone sax in a high school band sometime between 1952 and 1955. Since he was playing bass with Miles from 1955-1963, I have my doubts that he played the big horn in a pick up band. Regardless, thank you for sharing the info about your father and grandfather. The stories they must have shared with you! 

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On 1/7/2021 at 0:18 AM, sonnymax said:

Case closed? Wiki mentions that Chambers played baritone sax in a high school band sometime between 1952 and 1955. Since he was playing bass with Miles from 1955-1963, I have my doubts that he played the big horn in a pick up band. Regardless, thank you for sharing the info about your father and grandfather. The stories they must have shared with you! 

I saw Moody at Yoshi's a couple years before he died. Moody told me that while on bus tour with Diz's band in the south, they almost sent my father home because he was going to get the rest of them killed. He said the white women in the audience were crooning and swooning over my father, he had very, very light skin, one of those "high yellow niggas" Moody had a lot of stories. I've had the privilege of meeting Bobby Hutcherson, Joey DeFrancesco,  Benny Golson, James Moody, Gerald Wilson. Golson and my dad played together in Earl Bostic's band, he said they were great friends, did everything together. Golson had even more stories most of which I can't share here.  Kids might be reading this.  LOL

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16 hours ago, mrjazzman said:

I saw Moody at Yoshi's a couple years before he died. Moody told me that while on bus tour with Diz's band in the south, they almost sent my father home because he was going to get the rest of them killed. He said the white women in the audience were crooning and swooning over my father, he had very, very light skin, one of those "high yellow niggas" Moody had a lot of stories. I've had the privilege of meeting Bobby Hutcherson, Joey DeFrancesco,  Benny Golson, James Moody, Gerald Wilson. Golson and my dad played together in Earl Bostic's band, he said they were great friends, did everything together. Golson had even more stories most of which I can't share here.  Kids might be reading this.  LOL

Pops&Louie.jpgNot a problem, I enjoy it.  My aunt gave that and many other photos of my 3 amigos to me many, many years ago. I Have no idea where or when that photo was taken.  My dad usually would write names, date and place on the back of the photo but he didn't do it on this one. Have we established that that is in fact Mr. PC in the photo? Question before I leave:  Which of these forums discusses collections. I want to see how mine stacks up against others. As of this writing I have 5681 cd's and a few LP's mostly bebop and hardbop with some blues from Albert King, Billy Ray Vaughan,some R&B, James Brown, Wilson Picket, Curtis Mayfield, Michael Jackson, Sade, Ray Charles(great jazz pianist in the beginning) Wow, I was able to drag this photo, Everybody should know who the guy on the left is. The guy on the right is Mr. Wright as in Lamar Sr, my grandfather. They could have passed as brohers

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If you haven't done so already, read the bio on AllMusic Guide.  I was about 6 when my parents split, we left NY and returned to CA , so I spent very little time with Pops as a child. I have a photo of me walking down the street alongside Cecil Payne. I tried to continue the tradition but was a lazy child who didn't like to practice, although after my dad sent me a trumpet in the mail, I was a proud member(2nd trumpet) of the Ben Franklin Jr High School Band S.F. CA circa 1960. I had tons of fun in that band, used to wake up with the Roosters, go to the band room 2 hours before school started, jamming/practicing.

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unfortunately I've never been a reader. That book has been out forever. Now I'll have to give it a read.  Didn't see him from 6 until I flew back there to see my people at about 19.  New Yorkers don't come to CA so I had to go.  I'd been hearing about these guys from my mother all while I was growing up. My dad, uncle and grandfather, I thought they were famous musicians. LOL  Had the following conversation  while visiting:  He said, you know, Diz plays all over the country, next time he comes to S.F. you ought to go see him.  I'm about 19 and I said,   I don't have money to get into a club. He gave me this incredible look and said,  Money, you don't need any money, just go there and tell people at the club  who you are. I'm saying to myself, yea right. Fast forward to the '68 UC Berkeley Jazz Festival Zellerbach Auditorium, I told the guy guarding the dressing room I wanted to see Dizzy Gillespie,  he had a look on his face that said,  and so does everybody else, He said may I tell him who you are, I said I'm Elmon Wright's son, he came back in 5 minutes total different look and attitude and said   follow me.  I walked downstairs into the dressing room.  Diz looked at me and said the following:  "Dam, you look just like your old man"  I could have passed for his twin brother I looked so much like him. 

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