Clark recorded 9 classes with the celebrated Blue Be aware label between 1957 and ’61. A brand new set that includes his work as band chief for the label showcases his crisp, tuneful creativity.
TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. Jazz pianist Sonny Clark grew up in and round Pittsburgh and made his first recordings in LA through the heyday of cool jazz within the Nineteen Fifties. He later moved to New York in 1957, the place the warmer music was extra to his style, and signed with the celebrated Blue Be aware label. There’s now a brand new field set assortment of all of his Blue Be aware recordings. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead has this evaluate.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “NEWS FOR LULU”)
KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Sonny Clark on his tune “Information For Lulu,” 1957. Clark was his personal man on piano. You would hear what he owed to Horace Silver’s grooving and Bud Powell’s complexity, however Clark had his personal fleet, nimble, fastidiously crafted private type. His fingers are pistons dancing on the keys, making the strings sing out. And he is swinging on a regular basis, even taking part in a single be aware. His fluent strains might be nearly glib generally, however bluesy feeling retains him grounded.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK TRIO’S “TWO BASS HIT”)
WHITEHEAD: Sonny Clark with Paul Chambers on bass and “Philly” Joe Jones on drums. The pianist holds his personal at that fast tempo, however medium tempos give Clark extra room to fine-tune his timing and power on the keys. On a 1959 take of his tune “Royal Flush,” Clark organizes his stealthy solo round a catchy rotating determine that is not a part of the melody, as if he is composing within the second.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “ROYAL FLUSH”)
WHITEHEAD: Sonny Clark recorded 9 classes for Blue Be aware between 1957 and ’61. His glorious rhythm companions embody drummers Louis Hayes, Arthur Taylor and Billy Higgins and bassists Wilbur Ware and Jymie Merritt. On the piano’s altered blues (ph), “Some Clark Bars,” bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Artwork Blakey give the beat nearly a rustic lope, the blues as folks music, their bass and drums that match proper right into a rockabilly band.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “SOME CLARK BARS”)
WHITEHEAD: Blue Be aware recorded Sonny Clark in trios and in quintets and sextets with glorious horn gamers. They embody Artwork Farmer, Donald Byrd or Tommy Turrentine on trumpet, trombonist Curtis Fuller, and on saxophones, John Coltrane, Jackie McLean or Clifford Jordan. The scene stealer on Clark’s 1959 LP, “My Conception,” is tenor Hank Mobley, who was having an excellent day within the studio. Clark’s ballad, “My Conception,” faucets Mobley’s romantic facet.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “MY CONCEPTION”)
WHITEHEAD: By 1961, when Sonny Clark recorded his tremendous and ultimate Blue Be aware album, “Leapin’ And Lopin’,” he’d been spending a little bit time round Thelonious Monk and was feeling his affect. For this take, he employed Monk’s saxophonist Charlie Rouse and a tuneful bassist Monk would rent later, Butch Warren. Monk’s affect is taking part in on Clark’s riffing tune, “Voodoo,” and on his cussed piano beneath Rouse’s solo.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “VOODOO”)
WHITEHEAD: Fourteen months after recording “Leapin’ And Lopin’,” Sonny Clark died of a heroin overdose at 32. A lot music he’d recorded sat within the vaults till the Nineteen Seventies, when his rediscovery by Japanese jazz followers particularly prompted Blue Be aware to steadily launch all his stockpiled recordings. Now we have now in a single place every part he recorded for the label as chief. The six-CD Sonny Clark roundup, “The Full Blue Be aware Classes,” comes from net warehouse Mosaic Data with skilled program notes by Blue Be aware authority, Bob Blumenthal. Sonny Clark deserves such first-class therapy. His taking part in brims with the crisp, tuneful creativity that attracts listeners to jazz within the first place.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “SOMETHIN’ SPECIAL”)
MOSLEY: Kevin Whitehead is the writer of the e-book “Play The Means You Really feel: The Important Information To Jazz Tales On Movie.” He reviewed Sonny Clark: The Full Blue Be aware Classes on the Mosaic label. Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, Marshall Mission journalist Maurice Chammah joins us to speak about music packages in jail. He explores how artwork and music can assist construct hope and dignity inside jail partitions and helps us perceive the mindset of those that commit crimes and are imprisoned. I hope you will be a part of us. To maintain up with what’s on the present and to get highlights of our interviews, comply with us on Instagram at @nprfreshair.
FRESH AIR’s govt producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and evaluations are produced and edited by Amy Salit, Phyllis Myers, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Heidi Saman, Therese Madden, Ann Marie Baldonado, Thea Chaloner, Seth Kelley and Susan Nyakundi. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the present. For Terry Gross, I am Tonya Mosley.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “SOMETHIN’ SPECIAL”)
Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content will not be in its ultimate type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could range. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.
