Put on Kind of Blue, go to “Freddie Freeloader,” and listen to the bass in the first two bars. That’s Paul Chambers, and he’s playing triplet fills on a B-flat blues. On Kind of Blue.
When I think of that album, a bunch of triplet fills is the last thing I think of. It’s a record that’s most known for its simplicity. And yet this might be the busiest, most extreme B-flat blues bass line I’ve ever heard in my life. A lot of people don’t realize this line is on that record. I didn’t either, until very recently.
Here’s what gets me. If I played this on a gig, if we started the night with a B-flat blues and those were my first two bars, I’d get vibed by literally everybody. Honestly, I’d get fired. When PC plays it, it somehow feels so natural. So let’s look at what he’s doing, and what you can take from it without losing the gig.
The first four bars are mostly eighth notes and triplets
Look at the first four bars and count how many of them are quarter notes. There’s only one bar of quarter notes. The third bar is relatively simple, but the rest is pretty much eighth notes and triplets. That’s insane.
Sit with that for a second. Most of us would play it safe at the top of a blues, and PC fills those bars right up. Somehow it sounds like it belongs there.
That’s the puzzle of this whole line. On paper it looks like a list of things you’d tell a student not to do. On the record it feels great. So the useful question is what PC’s doing that keeps all of this from falling apart. There are a couple of things you can actually hear, and you can borrow both of them.
Beat 1 tells everybody which chord you’re on
When the tune moves to E-flat 7, PC plays his line through it and then lands on an F when it goes back to B-flat 7.
He’s doing exactly what I tell my students: when you’re playing a blues, play a beat 1 that belongs to the different chord. For example, if I’m playing over an E-flat 7 on a B-flat blues, I don’t want to play a B-flat on my beat 1, because then people will think it’s a B-flat 7.
Here’s what’s going on with those notes. B-flat is in E-flat 7 (it’s the fifth), so it isn’t a wrong note. It just doesn’t tell anybody the chord moved, because it’s also the root of the chord you just left. F works the other way around. It’s the fifth of B-flat 7, and it isn’t in E-flat 7 at all. So when PC lands there, the change is right there in the bass.
Somehow PC gets away with all of this. It’s amazing. I don’t know how he does that. But you can use this piece of it on your next tune, busy or not.
The second chorus, and a chord that wasn’t there
If you thought he’d settle down after the first chorus, he doesn’t. The beginning of his second chorus is just as wild. That’s not what I’d have expected, and it’s the most complicated B-flat blues bass line I’ve ever heard. I’d never think of playing something like this. But again, it fits perfectly.
Then, for the rest of the line, PC calms down. I think maybe he realized he was playing too many triplets.
Now check out the end of the second chorus. On the B-flat 7, he plays a clear A-flat 7.
Here’s my best guess at what happened. This tune has a second ending. The first ending goes to A-flat 7, and the second ending is just a regular B-flat blues. He probably thought it was going back to the A-flat 7, which it wasn’t. I wouldn’t play an A-flat 7 over a B-flat 7. But it fits perfectly, so it doesn’t even matter. Even if he thought it was the wrong chord, it sounds beautiful.
Paul Chambers is a master of making everything sound beautiful.
Cole Davis
There are plenty of recordings where maybe he goes to the bridge early, or maybe he plays a wrong note somewhere. It doesn’t matter at all, because it sounds and feels great.
So when you listen to this line, that’s the test to hold it to. Does it sound and feel great? And is it going somewhere?
What to borrow from PC (without getting fired)
I’m not telling you to open your next blues gig with two bars of triplets. You already know what would happen to me.
What PC never loses, even in his busiest bars, is direction. His line always moves forward, which, as we know, is the most important thing with any bass line. Even when he’s playing a bunch of triplets, it’s always moving forward. That’s the beauty of this bass line.
So the first thing to borrow is that priority. Before you add a single fill, your line has to be headed somewhere. The second thing is the beat 1 habit from the E-flat 7. You can start on that one today.
Try this today
- Listen first. Put on “Freddie Freeloader” and follow the bass through the first four bars. Count the bars of quarter notes. You should only find one.
- Walk a B-flat blues. Keep it plain. This drill is about beat 1, so don’t worry about fills yet.
- Stay off B-flat on the E-flat 7. When the tune moves to E-flat 7, don’t play a B-flat on your beat 1. Pick a note that tells the band the chord changed.
- Land on F when B-flat 7 comes back. That’s the move PC makes coming out of the E-flat 7. Play it a few times and listen to how clearly it announces the change.
- Check every chord change. Go around the form and ask the same question at each new chord: does my beat 1 sound like this chord, or like the one I just left?
Once that’s automatic, you’ve got the same beat 1 habit PC uses in the middle of all those triplets. The triplets themselves can come later, if they come at all.
If PC’s your guy, there’s a whole course built around him: Bebop for Bass: The Paul Chambers Approach. And if you’d rather learn straight from the records, you’ll find more of my breakdowns on the transcriptions page.
The note-by-note version of this one is in PC’s 2 Feel on Freddie Freeloader. Grab it, put the record on, and see how long you can keep up with him.
