Dennis Chambers Voted Best Drummer of All Time

In May 9, 1959, Dennis Chambers entered this world and started his trip toward becoming a drummer amongst drummers. He started drumming at the age of 4 and played his first gigs in Baltimore nightclubs two years later. Despite his talent, or maybe because of it, he never received any formal musical training, but still developed into a drummer that is known for his technique and speed – especially amongst his colleagues.

Today, we learn how Dennis Chambers became the legendary drummer he is today. From his earliest memories of copying records on a toy drum kit, to slinging tracks with the likes of John Scofield and Miles Davis, Dennis has a story to tell about everything. Like the music he plays, Dennis shares stories with a rhythm and flow that is music to my ears. You definitely do not want to miss out!

Though Dennis is a self-taught musician, he claims he learned from the best. He was so good, that his drumming appeared on a gospel record when he was just 7. At 13 or 14, James Brown was asking him to play in his band. The names just keep coming! Dennis has jammed with the likes of P Funk, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Stanley Clark, and Carlos Santana. Across the decades, across jazz, funk, soul, and rock and roll, Dennis has become a master chameleon of rhythm and style.

At the age of 18, he joined Parliament/Funkadelic (also known as P-Funk), the funk collective around singer/songwriter/keyboardist George Clinton.

After 7 years, in 1985, he left P-funk to join Special EFX, but seemingly never recorded an album with them. In 1987, he joined the David Sanborn Band and the John Scofield band. With the latter he recorded a number of albums until 1989 and got more and more involved in his favorite music, jazz fusion.

After 1989 he played with many bands and band leaders, including amongst other Stanley Clark, Bill Evans and George Duke and made appearances on albums of Jeff Berlin, Gary Thomas, Billy Sheehan and many others.

Between 1991 and 2010 he recorded 11 albums under his own name, with varying line ups of great jazz fusion and rock musicians, with 2002’s Outbreak as the possible highlight, featuring Tribal Tech’s Gary Willis on fretless bass.

If you want to know more about Dennis Chambers, then you should follow him on his official social media profiles at Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Do you want to share your thoughts here, please enter your comment below.