Sonny Clark

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Sonny Clark
Background information
Birth name Conrad Yeatis Clark
Born July 21, 1931(1931-07-21)
Herminie, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died January 13, 1963(1963-01-13) (aged 31)
New York, New York, U.S.
Genres Hard bop
Occupations Pianist
Instruments Piano
Years active 1953–1962
Labels Blue Note

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

Contents

[edit] Biography

Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town southeast of Pittsburgh. At age 12, he moved to Pittsburgh. 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 U.S. 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 of a heart attack in New York City,[1] although commentators attribute the early death to Clark's drug and alcohol abuse.[1][2][3]

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).

[edit] Discography

[edit] As leader

Compilations

[edit] As sideman

With Tina Brooks

With Serge Chaloff

  • Blue Serge (1956)

With Buddy DeFranco

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

With Lou Donaldson

With Curtis Fuller

With Dexter Gordon

With Bennie Green

With Grant Green[4]

The albums were recorded in 61-62 on Blue Note, but released later.

With Johnny Griffin

With John Jenkins

With Clifford Jordan

With Jackie McLean

With Hank Mobley

With Lee Morgan

With Ike Quebec

With Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse

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

With Louis Smith

With Stanley Turrentine

With Don Wilkerson

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Blue Note Records: the biography By Richard Cook
  2. ^ Bebop By Scott Yanow p. 252
  3. ^ The rough guide to jazz By Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, Brian Priestley. p. 117
  4. ^ Reid Thompson. "Grant Green Quarter Recordings with Sonny Clark, reviewed by All That Jazz". http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=9094. Retrieved 2009-06-23. 

[edit] Book sources

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonny_Clark&oldid=478140609"
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