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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZTERRY, Clark(b 14 December 1920, St Louis MO; d 21 February 2015) Trumpet, flugelhorn, and a master teacher. He played in local bands, U.S. Navy band with Willie Smith during WWII, then with Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnet, Count Basie post-war; Duke Ellington '51-9. He worked with Quincy Jones '59, then recorded with Charles Mingus '60 on the album Pre-Bird on EmArCy (later called Revisiting Mingus), and at Mingus's Town Hall Concert '62. He was then recommended by Ray Copeland (who had to turn down the job) for TV's Tonight Show band '60-72 led by Doc Severinsen, leading to wide and deserved public popularity. His mainstream style was out of Charlie Shavers and Rex Stewart, influenced by modernists, but with personality all its own. He was one of the first to adopt the mellower flugelhorn as a second instrument. He co-led a quintet with Bobby Brookmeyer (an album '65 on Mainstream), improbably during that era led a big band (Big B-A-D Band Live At Buddy's Place and Live At The Wichita Jazz Festival on Vanguard, Live On 57th Street on Big Bear); and also played with Thelonious Monk on a European tour '67 (and albums In Orbit on Riverside, two-disc Cruising on Milestone). He was very busy in the studios in New York City, playing on countless recording sessions. Other albums of his own included Serenade To A Bus Seat '57 on Riverside, Paris 1960 with Kenny Clarke and Martial Solal on Swing, with Oscar Peterson Trio '64 on Mercury (with Oscar again later on Pablo). He had an amusing mumbling vocal style, used on the Tonight Show's guess-the-tune recurring skit; he recorded 'Mumbles' at the end of a session with Peterson '64, using leftover time, and had something of a hit with it. More albums included It's What's Happenin' '67 on Impulse, Funk Dumpling '78 on Matrix (made in Copenhagen with Kenny Drew, Ed Thigpen, Red Mitchell); also And His Jolly Giants on Vanguard; on BASF/MPS late '70s: Clark After Dark and Wham (live at Jazz House, Hamburg; also on Pausa). On Pablo/Fantasy: Ain't Misbehavin', Memories Of Duke with Joe Pass, Yes, The Blues with Eddie Vinson, MotherMother with Zoot Sims, Alternate Blues with Oscar, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie. Squeeze Me by the Clark Terry Spacemen '89 was on Chiaroscuro; Portraits '88, Live At The Village Gate and The Second Set '90 were on Chesky; Shades Of Blue '94 on Challenge with Al Grey. Metropole Orchestra '94 on Mons, made in Holland with a 40-piece band, arranged by Rob Pronk and Lex Jasper, was 50 minutes of hip mainstream, nobody slipping on the strings; Big Band Basie '94 and Clark Terry Express '95 were made with the DePaul U. big band. There were many other albums on Candid, Delos, Red Baron, European labels etc by one of the most popular jazzmen of all time. At over 90 years old, he was still seeing students from all over the world in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He published a memoir Clark in 2011. |