Why Does Everyone Get Dennis Chambers Wrong?

Send us Fan Mail

Video essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvbY2Y5LLeg

Dennis Chambers is filed, almost universally, under chops. The speed, the impossible fills, the gospel-schooled hands that half of YouTube has spent thirty years trying to copy. But look at who actually hires him, from George Clinton to John Scofield to Steely Dan to John McLaughlin, and a different picture appears. They aren't buying the fireworks. They're buying the thing underneath them.

This is the story of a self-taught kid from Baltimore who was gigging in clubs at six, turned down James Brown at thirteen, joined Parliament-Funkadelic at eighteen, and came out of the most groove-first apprenticeship in American music with a philosophy he has been repeating in interviews ever since: there's a cake, and the solo is only the icing.

00:00 The Cake and the Icing
00:58 Beginnings
02:37 Funkadelic, Sugar Hill & John Scofield
04:17 Three Philosophical Pillars
06:53 Signature Sound
08:50 Catalogue
10:27  Legacy and Conclusion

#dennischambers #parliamentfunkadelic #drumdog

Support the channel: https://ko-fi.com/offbeat

For any enquiries: [email protected]

Check out Drum Dog: www.drumdog.com

Support the show