When Chick Corea died in February, the name of Joe Chambers might have been a peripheral thought for some fans – as the restrainedly swinging drummer on Corea's 1966 debut Tones For Joan's Bones. Alongside playing for Freddie Hubbard and Andrew Hill as a Blue Note sideman in the 1960s, Chambers composed fine originals for Bobby Hutcherson and Max Roach, and later led some acid-jazzy sessions for various labels. Now, at 78, he's back with Blue Note for Samba de Maracatu, overdubbing vibes and percussion with a piano/bass duo, a rapper and a singer, on three originals, and sensuously thoughtful nods to Hutcherson (‘Visions'), Horace Silver (‘Ecaroh') and Wayne Shorter (‘Rio') among others. All the shimmery vibes vibrato, hooky themes and soft Latin grooves could have erred toward the soporific, but Chambers has always known how to hold attention without ostentation. ‘You And The Night And The Music' is captivatingly swinging and features a fine Brad Merritt piano break, while the leader's title track joins Merritt's lyrical intro to a bass-driven samba motif, and lustrously moody vibes and percussion textures. New Orleans singer Stephanie Jordan handles ‘Never Let Me Go' straight but subtly, and in a deft tribute to a tribute, Chambers overlays hip hop star Nas's 1994 ‘NY State of Mind' (itself a sample from the drummer's own 1978 theme ‘Mind Rain') with ringing vibes chords and amplified snare smacks, and MC Parrain's urgent contemporary rap. Samba de Maracatu is an uneasy mix at times, but there's an unmistakeably old hand at work.