Kenny Clarke

Kenny Clarke (born Kenneth Spearman Clarke, nicknamed "Klook", and later known as Liaqat Ali Salaam, on January 9, 1914 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-died January 26, 1985 in Montreuil-sous-bois, France) was a jazz drummer and an early innovator of the bebop style of drumming. As the house drummer at Minton's Playhouse in the early 1940s, he participated in the after hours jams that led to the birth of Be-Bop, which in turn led to modern jazz. While in New York, he played with the major innovators of the emerging bop style, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Curly Russell and others, as well as musicians of the prior generation, including Sidney Bechet.

Early career

Clarke came from a musical family, and studied multiple instruments, including vibes and trombone, as well as music theory and composition, while still in high school. While still a teenager in Pittsburgh, Clarke played in the bands of Leroy Bradley and Roy Eldridge. He toured around the Midwest for several years with the Jeter-Pillars band, which also featured bassist Jimmy Blanton and guitarist Charlie Christian. By 1935, Clarke was more frequently in New York, where he eventually moved. He worked in groups led by Edgar Hayes and Lonnie Smith, and began developing the rhythmic concepts that would later define his contribution to the music.

Bebop and the ride cymbal

While working in the bands of Edgar Hayes and Roy Eldridge, Clarke began experimenting with moving the time-keeping role from the combination of snare drum or hi-hat and bass drum to embellished quarter notes on the ride cymbal- the familiar "ding-ding-da-ding" pattern, which Clarke is often credited with inventing. This new approach incorporated the bombs, or syncopated accents on the bass drum, developed by Jo Jones, while further freeing up the left hand to play more syncopated figures. Under Roy Eldridge, who encouraged this new approach to time keeping, Clarke wrote a series of exercises for himself to develop the independence of the bass drum and snare drum, while maintaining the time on the ride cymbal. One of these passages, a combination of a rim shot on the snare followed directly by a bass drum accent, earned Clarke his nickname, "Klook", which was short for "Klook-mop", in imitation of the sound this combination produced. This nickname was enshrined in "Oop Bop Sh'Bam," recorded by Dizzy Gillespie in 1946 with Clarke on drums, where the scat lyric to the bebop tune goes "oop bop sh'bam a klook a mop."

Clarke himself claimed that these stylistic elements were already in place by the time he put together the famous house band at Minton's Playhouse, which hosted Monk, Parker, Gillespie, Russell, saxophonist Don Byas and many others while serving as the incubator of the emerging small group sound. The combination of the improvised accents on the snare and bass drum, and the sonority of the ringing ride cymbal carrying the time revolutionized the sound and dynamic of the jazz combo. As producer Ross Russell summed up the role of the ride cymbal:

"The vibration of the cymbal, once set in motion, is maintained throughout the number, producing a shimmering texture of sound that supports, agitates, and inspires the line men. This is the tonal fabric of bebop jazz."

Clarke's innovation set the stage for the development of the bebop combo, which relied heavily on improvised exchanges between drummer and soloist to propel the music forward. For this, "every drummer" Ed Thigpen said, "owes him a debt of gratitude."

Modern Jazz Quartet and move to Paris

While playing at Minton's, Clarke made many recordings, most notably as the house drummer for Savoy Records. When the musicians from the Minton's band moved to different projects, Clarke began working with a young pianist and composer John Lewis and vibraphonist Milt Jackson. With the addition of bassist Ray Brown, they formed the Modern Jazz Quartet, or MJQ. The group pioneered what would later be called "chamber jazz" or "third stream", referring to its incorporation of classical and baroque aesthetics as an alternative to hard bop, the bluesier successor to the bebop combo sound which emerged in the mid-fifties. Clarke stayed with the MJQ until 1955, when he began contemplating a move to Paris, where he eventually relocated in 1956. Clarke had toured Europe numerous times going all the way back to a stint in the Army during the mid 40's. He was undoubtedly attracted to the better pay he could earn in France: "Why not stay here?" Ira Gitler quotes him as saying, "I earn a good living- a very good living." It is also possible that, like many African American expatriate musicians and writers, he was attracted to the better social treatment he received there. As soon as he moved to Paris, he regularly worked with visiting American musicians in, as well as forming a working trio, known as "The Bosses", with Bud Powell, also a Paris resident, and Pierre Michelot.

Later in 1961, with Belgian pianist Francy Boland he formed a regular big band, The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, featuring leading European and expatriate American musicians, including among many others, Johnny Griffin and Ronnie Scott on tenor saxes. The big band, which had been the idea of Italian producer Gigi Campi, lasted for eleven years.

Clarke continued recording and playing with both visiting U.S. musicians and his regular French band mates until his death. Later recordings and reports from live dates continue to bear out the sensitivity and musicality of his accompaniment, the qualities that endeared him to the major jazz musicians of his day.

In 1988 Clarke was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.

Discography

• Special Kenny Clarke 1938-1959 (Jazz Muse) with Benny Bailey, Clark Terry, Hubert Fol, Lcky Thompson, Tommy Scott, Art Simmons, Jimmy Gourley, Pierre Michelot
• Telefunken Blues (Savoy, 1955) with Henry Coker, Frank Morgan, Frank Wess, Milt Jackson, Percy Heath
• Bohemia After Dark (Savoy, 1955) with Cannonball & Nat Adderley, Jerome Richardson, Hank Jones, Horace Silver, Paul Chambers
• Jazz Men Detroit (Savoy, 1956) with Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers
• Plays André Hodeir (Philips, 1956) with Roger Guérin, Billy Byers, Pat Peck, Hubert Rostaing, Martial Solal, René Urtreger, P. Michelot
• Kenny Clarke, Francy Boland & Co. - The Golden 8 (Blue Note, 1961)
• Pieces of Time (Soul Note, 1983) Andrew Cyrille, Don Moye and Milford Graves

References

• Gitler, Ira (1966). Jazz Masters of the Forties. New York: Collier Books. pp. 290. 

• Carr, Ian; Digby Fairweather, Brian Priestley (1995). Jazz, The Rough Guide. London: Rough Guides Ltd. pp. 754. 1-85828-137-7