Another one for T
A pianist esteemed by his peers, and well known to Trane junkies and jazz fiends
But under-appreciated by the public at large
At least the American public
He remains an idol in Japan
Sonny Clark?
This article from the Paris Review gives a great reading of his vie and oevre:
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/01/13/sonny-clark/
Like Lorettta Lynn, a coal miner’s child (dad died of black lung when he was a baby)
Here’s his take on Kurt Weill’s Speak Low
With tenor from Trane
(Remind me to do a wrong take dose regarding Paul Chambers)
Sonny Clark is my #1 influence
Wow
Nailed it
Makes sense, given your affection for minor blues
From Sonny’s Crib on Blue Note, 1957
Title track is a Clark original
https://youtu.be/qciRcd-CRa8
Whole thing is indispensable for hard boppers, bluesmen, and all those whose spirit ain’t dead yet
Died way too young of a heroin overdose
Turek, care to share anything about the love/influence?
Sonny Clark appears in Hampton Hawes (himself a very big influence on the bebop/hard bop scene) autobiography
They are known together as the most strung out of all the musician junkies hanging around the midtown clubs
Collectively called the Gold Dust Twins because they would invariably try to sell you gold dust of one form or another – “can you pawn your horn so I can cop” etc
The following is the recording that made me decide I would learn to play piano within the tradition or die trying:
https://youtu.be/3GKvPNEkNdw
It’s a very obscure tune that I’ve only heard a few other recordings of, most notably Art Tatum
But it very much sounds like a Deep Night – and is all about that minor blues, as Daveed said
The album it’s from, Cool Struttin’, has sold more copies in Japan than all other countries combined- as Daveed says, Sonny Clark is most famous in Japan
He was short and one half of his face was paralyzed from an early childhood illness
There is a very sad moment caught on recording of him moaning as he shoots up
It is the closest thing I’ve found to a recording of his voice
To my knowledge, there is not one single piece of video footage of Sonny Clark that exists
In all online forums, my handle is and always will be Sonny Clark
He is a classic example of the archetypal artist genius who lives a tragic and misery filled life, only to be revered posthumously: there are no advanced degrees in jazz piano that would not include the study of sonny Clark in their curriculum – he is, within hard bop jazz piano, Inevitable.
I’ve played over this recording perhaps more than any other:
https://youtu.be/qWdLJ6-PeVo
The album art is the background to my business card and essentially my social media watermark
I rep him as hard as I can
That is a note for note transcription of the end of the head and the start of the solo on Deep Night
Took me probably an hour of listening to the same 10 seconds to get it
I am so happy you featured Sonny Clark in the dose Daveed
Thank you
He dies at 31 from heroin OD. I think no one is totally sure where he’s buried- I seem to recall reading that his mom said the corpse wasn’t his, and that he may have accidentally been buried in a mass grave for the John Doe’s et al of the period
Damn! Thank you!
More Sonny for the masses: an original on Cool Struttin
https://youtu.be/7VdqJGcFTTI
And another original, the wrapping on Sonny’s Crib
https://youtu.be/b2fE9vLb5z4
Blue Minor is truly a hard bop anthem