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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 ZCLARKE, Kenny(b Kenneth Spearman Clarke, 9 January 1914, Philadelphia; d 25 January 1985, Paris) Drummer; one of the most important innovators of post-war jazz. From a musical family, he played trombone, piano, vibes, studied theory in high school. He worked with Roy Eldridge, Jeter/ Pillars band, Edgar Hayes (including a European tour '38), Teddy Hill '40-1 (he got the nickname 'Klook' from Hill, who complained about his 'klook-mop' sound), then the house band at Minton's (hired by Hill: see entry for Bop). He had gigs with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, Red Allen in Chicago; US Army service; then with Dizzy Gillespie '46, again in '48, remaining some months in France after a European tour. He toured the USA with the Billy Eckstine band, was a founder member of the Modern Jazz Quartet '52-5 and moved to Europe '56. He attended a Duke Ellington fellowship programme at Yale U '72; was the house drummer at the Montreux Festival '73. Kenny Clarke followed Jo Jones and others in keeping a 4/4 beat on the cymbals, but went further in liberating the rest of the drum kit to support the soloist or as an independent voice of its own. He said that he stopped beating 4/4 on the bass drum because his foot got tired; but he began 'dropping bombs', his bass drum accents becoming a witty addition to the language of jazz. His compositions included the co-written 'Epistrophy' with Thelonious Monk and 'Salt Peanuts' with Dizzy, both classics having the sort of rhythmic iconoclasm that was part of bop. Sessions under his own name began in Stockholm in 1938 (by 'Kenny Clarke's Kvintett'); there were American and French recordings for the Swing label '46-50, then Paris Be-bop Sessions on Prestige '50; sessions on on Savoy '54-6 included Telefunken Blues, Bohemia After Dark, Kenny Clarke/Ernie Wilkins Septet, all '55; Klook's Clique, Meets The Detroit Jazzmen with Pepper Adams, Paul Chambers '56, more. His long residence in France made a lot of French records sound better, such as Kenny Clarke Plays André Hodeir '56 on Philips; from '59 he teamed with Bud Powell and bassist Pierre Michelot (b 3 March '28, Saint Denis; d 3 July 2005, Paris) as the Three Bosses, an ace Paris rhythm section e.g. on Dexter Gordon's Blue Note LP Our Man In Paris '63, others. He worked with with Michelot on five French Columbia LPs under Clarke's name '57-9 including a quartet set with Lucky Thompson and Martial Solal on piano. Clarke and Michelot backed gypsy guitarist Elek Bacsik (b 22 May '26, Budapest) on a '62 LP. Pieces Of Time on Soul Note '83 also featured drummers Andrew Cyrille, Milford Graves, Don Moye. Clarke also co-led the all-star Clarke/Boland Big Band (which see). Klook: The Story of Kenny Clarke was a biography written by Mike Hennessey (1990). |