Producer: Jim Beard;
All music arranged by Jim Beard
recorded at: Avatar Studios, NYC; February & April 2002;
recording engineer: Phil Magnotti;
additional recordings at: B&C Studios, NYC;
recording engineer: Jim Beard;
mixed at: Carriage House Studios, Stamford, CT;
mixing engineer: Phil Magnotti

May 2002;
mastered by: Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, NYC;
Jim Beard would like to thank:
the musicians - - Will, Skeet, Gary, Matt, John, Jon, Dean, Nick, Bob, Randy, Michael, Danny, Arto, Mike, Aaron and Jim for their joy, funk, work, play and generosity. Phil, Johnny M and everyone at Avatar for keeping the machine oiled. Ira, Victor and Caitlin for making the returns so fun.

Jim Beard would like to give extra special thanks to everyone out there who actually buys a copy of this CD (not having a friend burn one for you).
photos by: Holger Keifel, NYC;

cover concept / design: BOB Design, Trier, Germany
A formidable, ferocious and ultrafunky presence behind the kit in such celebrated ensembles as Parliament-Funkadelic, Steely Dan, Santana and the Brecker Brothers as well as incendiary fusion outfits led by guitarists John Scofield, Mike Stern and John McLaughlin, Dennis Chambers is everyone’s choice for allworld drummer. On "Outbreak” , his Stateside debut as a leader, Dennis slams home some solid grooves in the company of such heavyweights as guitarists Scofield, Jon Herington, Nick Moroch and Dean Brown, bassists Will Lee, Gary Willis, Matthew Garrison and his old P-Funk rhythm tandem mate Rodney ‘Skeet’ Curtis, saxophonists Michael Brecker, Bobby Malach and Aaron Heick, trumpeter Randy Brecker and longtime colleague and keyboardist Jim Beard, who produced the New York session.

A remarkably versatile drummer who has shown infinite capacity to swing tastefully on a small kit in straight ahead jazz settings or flaunt his inimitable chops with double bass drums flailing in the allout burn mode of fusion settings, Chambers consciously decided to emphasize his sheer groovepower on "Outbreak”. "Basically, I didn’t want to turn this into a drum record, which means drum solos all over the place and dealing in all kind of complicated forms where the listener has to sit there and try to figure out what time signature I’m in from song to song. I really didn’t want to go there -- no drum solos, no flashy fills, just play the grooves, which is something I haven’t done in a long while. Since I left P-Funk (1984) pretty much everything I’ve done has been balls-to-the-wall either in the jazz thing or the fusion thing. I’ve been doing a lot of fiery playing over the years but I haven’t played any real pocket music for a long while. So it really felt good to get back to that."

As producer Beard explains, "Dennis’ one request was, ‘No slide rule music on this record,’ meaning he didn’t want us to get too involved in any intricate, complex stuff. So we kept it more simple and strictly in the pocket from start to finish."

From the slamming opener "Roll Call" to the closing cover of the James Brown funky anthem "Talkin’ Loud And Sayin’ Nothin’ " "Outbreak” is solidly on the one. Along the way Chambers pays tribute to another influential funk icon with a cover of Sly Stone’s "In Time", rekindles his scintillating chemistry with Scofield on a remake of "Otay" (from the guitarist’s 1987 funk-jazz opus Loud Jazz ) and fuels a monstrous groove on the volatile title track which pushes tenor sax titan Michael Brecker to some dizzying heights. Scofield also contributes the earthy number "Baltimore DC", his personal homage to the Baltimore-born-and-bred drummer, and Beard contributes his own funky anthem in "Groovus Interruptus", a Brecker Brothersish vehicle which again features some heroic blowing on tenor sax by Michael Brecker.

While the emphasis is clearly on groove throughout "Outbreak” , Dennis does give drum fanatics plenty to drool over on Jon Herington’s dramatic "Paris On Mine", the guitarist’s nod to John McLaughlin’s "New York On My Mind" (from 1978’s Electric Guitarist ), as well as on the rampaging title track in which he goes toe to toe with Michael Brecker for the album’s kinetic peak.

"For me, doing this session was like old home week," says Chambers. "It felt really good to, first of all, see all these guys again. And to play with them again was really a blast. We were all basically laughing and having a good time the whole time we were cutting this thing." Beard concurs that the mood of the session was indeed jovial and positive. "Dennis was like the perfect artist to produce because he didn’t care, but in that good way. He’s just like, ‘Hey whatever, let’s just go in and groove and have fun.’ And that’s a great attitude to bring to any session."

While his current duties as the touring drummer with Santana has once again put Chambers in a high visibility mode, he feels like he is still battling against his own image as the renowned chopsmeister. "Carlos wants me to do all these solos in concert," says Dennis. "He wants to hear me play a whole lot of drums and I’m like, ‘Man, I’ve been there and done that. I don’t want to do that now. I just wanna do groove.’ But he keeps giving me these solos every night. A lot of people know my playing from John McLaughlin and John Scofield and the Brecker Brothers and think that that’s all I can do. But they forget I played with P-Funk for nine years. I mean, I love to groove!"

And he does so triumphantly on "Outbreak” , an album which allows Dennis Chambers to break out of the stigma of being the all-world drummer’s drummer that he is.
Author: Bill Milkowski