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Musician

Sonny Clark

Sonny Clark

born on 21/7/1931 in Herminie, PA, United States

died on 13/1/1963 in New York City, NY, United States

Sonny Clark

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark (July 21, 1931 – January 13, 1963) was an American jazz pianist who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom.[1]

Early life

Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town east of Pittsburgh.[2] His parents were originally from Stone Mountain, Georgia.[2] His miner father, Emery Clark, died of a lung disease two weeks after Sonny was born.[2] Sonny was the youngest of eight children.[2] At age 12, he moved to Pittsburgh.

Later life and career

When visiting an aunt in California at age 20, Clark decided to stay and began working with saxophonist Wardell Gray. Clark went to San Francisco with Oscar Pettiford and after a couple months, was working with clarinetist Buddy DeFranco in 1953. Clark toured the United States and Europe with DeFranco until January 1956, when he joined The Lighthouse All-Stars, led by bassist Howard Rumsey.

Wishing to return to the east coast, Clark served as accompanist for singer Dinah Washington in February 1957 in order to relocate to New York City. In New York, Clark was often requested as a sideman by many musicians, partly because of his rhythmic comping. He frequently recorded for Blue Note Records, playing as a sideman with many hard bop players, including Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Paul Chambers, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Art Farmer, Curtis Fuller, Grant Green, Philly Joe Jones, Clifford Jordan, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Art Taylor, and Wilbur Ware. He also recorded sessions with Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Billie Holiday, Stanley Turrentine, and Lee Morgan.

As a band leader, Clark recorded albums Dial "S" for Sonny (1957), Sonny's Crib (1957), Sonny Clark Trio (1957), with Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, and Cool Struttin' (1958). Sonny Clark Trio, with George Duvivier and Max Roach was released in 1960.

Clark died in New York City; the official cause was listed as a heart attack, but the likely cause was a heroin overdose.[3][4][5][6]

Legacy

Close friend and fellow jazz pianist Bill Evans dedicated the composition "NYC's No Lark" (an anagram of "Sonny Clark") to him after his death, included on Evans' Conversations with Myself (1963). John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Ray Drummond, and Bobby Previte recorded an album of Clark's compositions, Voodoo (1985), as the Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet. Zorn also recorded several of Clark's compositions with Bill Frisell and George Lewis on News for Lulu (1988) and More News for Lulu (1992).

Discography

As leader

  • Oakland, 1955 (Uptown 1960)
  • Dial "S" for Sonny (Blue Note 1957)
  • Sonny's Crib (Blue Note 1957)
  • Sonny Clark Trio (Blue Note 1957)
  • Sonny Clark Quintets/My Conception (Blue Note 1957–59)
  • Cool Struttin' (Blue Note 1958)
  • The Art of The Trio (Blue Note 1958),
  • Blues in the Night (Blue Note 1958)
  • Sonny Clark Trio (Time/Bainbridge 1960) - with Max Roach, George Duvivier
  • Leapin' and Lopin' (Blue Note 1961)

Compilations

  • Standards (1998), Blue Note

As sideman

With Tina Brooks

  • Minor Move (Blue Note 1958)

With Serge Chaloff

  • Blue Serge (Capital 1956)

With Sonny Criss

  • Go Man! (Imperial Records, 1956)
  • Sonny Criss Plays Cole Porter (Imperial, 1956)

With Buddy DeFranco

  • In a Mellow Mood (Verve 1954)
  • Cooking the Blues (Verve 1955)
  • Autumn Leaves (Verve 1956)
  • Sweet and Lovely (Verve 1956)
  • Jazz Tones (Verve 1956)

With Lou Donaldson

  • Lou Takes Off (Blue Note 1957)

With Curtis Fuller

  • Bone & Bari (Blue Note 1957)
  • Curtis Fuller Volume 3 (Blue Note 1957)
  • Two Bones (Blue Note 1958)

With Dexter Gordon

  • Go (1962)
  • A Swingin' Affair (1962)
  • Landslide (compilation of unreleased tracks) (Blue Note 1980)

With Bennie Green

  • Soul Stirrin' (Blue Note 1958)
  • The 45 Session (Blue Note 1958)
  • Bennie Green Swings the Blues (Enrica 1959)
  • Bennie Green (Time 1960)

With Grant Green[7]

  • Gooden's Corner (1961*)
  • Nigeria (1962*)
  • Oleo (1962*)

These albums were recorded in 1961-62 for Blue Note, but not released until 1980. They have since been reissued as The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark.

  • Born to Be Blue (Blue Note 1962, released 1985)

With Johnny Griffin

  • The Congregation (Blue Note 1957)

With John Jenkins

  • John Jenkins with Kenny Burrell (Blue Note 1957)

With Philly Joe Jones

  • Showcase (Riverside, 1959)

With Clifford Jordan

  • Cliff Craft (Blue Note 1957)

With Jackie McLean

  • Jackie's Bag (Blue Note 1959)
  • A Fickle Sonance (1961)
  • Vertigo (Blue Note 1962)
  • Tippin' the Scales (1962)

With Hank Mobley

  • Poppin' (Blue Note 1957)
  • Hank Mobley (Blue Note 1957)
  • Curtain Call (Blue Note 1957)

With Lee Morgan

  • Candy (Blue Note 1958)

With Ike Quebec

  • Easy Living (Blue Note 1962)

With Sonny Rollins

  • The Sound of Sonny (Riverside 1957)

With Frank Rosolino

  • I Play Trombone (Bethlehem 1956)

With Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars

  • Mexican Passport (Contemporary 1956)
  • Music for Lighthousekeeping (Contemporary 1956)
  • Oboe/Flute (Contemporary 1956)

With Louis Smith

  • Smithville (Blue Note 1958)

With Stanley Turrentine

  • Stan "The Man" Turrentine (Time, 1960 [1963])
  • Jubilee Shout!!! (Blue Note 1962)

With Don Wilkerson

  • Preach Brother! (Blue Note 1962)

References

  1. ^ Palmer, Robert (March 18, 1987). "The Pop Life; Recalling Sonny Clark". The New York Times. Retrieved on September 1, 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d Stephenson, Sam (January 13, 2011) "Notes from a Biographer: Sonny Clark". The Paris Review.
  3. ^ Blue Note Records: the biography By Richard Cook
  4. ^ Bebop By Scott Yanow p. 252
  5. ^ The rough guide to jazz By Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, Brian Priestley. p. 117
  6. ^ Kelly, Robin (November 2, 2014). Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original. Simon and Schuster. p. 331. ISBN 978-1439-190463. 
  7. ^ Reid Thompson. "Grant Green Quarter Recordings with Sonny Clark, reviewed by All That Jazz". Retrieved 2009-06-23. 

External links

This page was last modified 11.04.2018 12:35:55

This article uses material from the article Sonny Clark from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.