Tuesday 21 July 2020

Sonny Clark born 21 July 1931


Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark (July 21, 1931 – January 13, 1963) was a pianist who was a wonderful accompanist and gifted writer, admired especially for his amazing right-hand lines and incredible rhythmic drive.

Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town east of Pittsburgh. His parents were originally from Stone Mountain, Georgia. His miner father, Emery Clark, died of a lung disease two weeks after Sonny was born. Sonny was the youngest of eight children. At age 12, he moved to Pittsburgh.

Hearing the music of Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Cout Basie, and Duke Ellington on the radio, he fell in love with jazz.  Attending high school in Jeanette he played bass and vibes with his high school band and also performed as a piano soloist. He performed professionally around Pittsburgh while still in school.  At age 15 Sonny appeared on the bill of the historic “Night of the Stars” Concert held at the Syria Mosque to celebrate the music of Pittsburgh’s jazz superstars.  Presented by the Frog Club and the Pittsburgh Courier on August 7, 1946 the show featured an all star cast of legendary Pittsburgh pianists Earl Hines, Mary Lou Williams, Billy Strayhorn, and Erroll Garner and jazz greats Billy Eckstein, Roy Eldridge, Maxine Sullivan, Ray Brown, Louis Deppe and more.

In 1951, when Sonny was 19, his older brother, also a pianist, took him on a trip to visit their aunt in Los Angeles.  Sonny decided to stay in California and found work performing with Wardell Grey and Vido Musso.  Working in California Sonny played with the key figures in the West Coast jazz movement including Stan Getz, Art Farmer. Wardell Grey, Anita O’Day, and Shelly Manne.  His was one of the few African Americans performing West Coast jazz.   Sonny made with recording debut in 1953 with saxophonist Wardell Grey on the Verve label. 

He joined Oscar Pettiford’s band and moved to San Francisco.  In San Fransisco he joined Buddy DeFranco’s band.  Sonny performed with Buddy DeFranco for two and a half years beginning with a tour of Europe and the U.S in 1954.  Sonny recorded his first album as a trio leader in 1955.  Titled “Oakland” it featured   bassist Jerry Good and drummer Al Randall and was recorded at the Mocambo Club in Oakland in January of 1955,  Sonny joined the Lighthouse All Stars in Hermosa Beach playing with them throughout 1956.   Wanting to travel back East and to visit his family in Pittsburgh on the way, Sonny took a job touring with Dinah Washington in February of 1957.  

Settling in New York in 1957 he worked dates with West Coast jazz artists including two weeks at Birdland with Stan Getz and a weekend with Anita O'Day.  Switching from West Coast Jazz to Hard Bop Sonny quickly became a requested sideman playing with hard bop players John Coltrane, Dextor Gorden, Kenny Burrell, and more. He began recording on the prestigious Blue Note label at age 26. Sonny recorded 29 Blue Note sessions as a band leader and a sideman.  He made 17 recordings in 1957 including five album recordings for Blue Note.  His first recording as a band leader was “Dial S for Sonny” released in 1957. His second release in 1957 was “Sonny‘s Crib” that featured a band comprised of John Coltrane and Paul Chambers. The album Sonny Clark Trio with Paul Chambers Philly Joe Jones was also released in 1957. 


                               

The classic “Cool Struttin’ album and the “Standards” albums were released in 1958.  Critic Thom Jurek of Allmusic.com calls the title tract “Cool Struttin: “one of the preeminent swinging medium blues pieces in jazz history.”  The album “My Conception” featuring 
tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley was released in 1959.  The “Sonny Clark Trio” album with George Duvivier and Max Roach was released in 1960.  His last album “Leapin' and Lopin” released in 1961 featuring four song composed by Clark includes the classics tracts “Vodoo” and “Something Special”.  Writer Michael G. Nastos of Allmusic.com calls “Leapin and Lopin” one of the definitive recording for all time in the mainstream jazz idiom.

In 1962 Sonny performed with Dexter Gordon on two of his classic Blue Note albums “Go” and “A Swinging Affair”.  He was Gorden’s favourite piano accompanist.  Sonny also recorded in 
1962 the albums Blue and Sentimental and Easy Living with Ike Quebec, Born to be Blue and Nigeria with Grant Green, the Jackie McLean Quintet and  Tipping' the Scales with Jackie McLean, and Jubliee Shout with Stanley Turrentine.

Sonny died of a heart attack on Sunday, January 13, 1963 at the age of 31. He had been in poor health due to his heroin and alcohol addictions.  Sonny played his last gigs two nights before his death on January 11 and 12 at Junior’s Bar on at the Alvin Hotel on Fifty-second and Broadway.  Jazz patron, Baroness Pannonica de 
Koenigswarter who was also Sonnys friend, phoned Clark’s older sister in Pittsburgh to tell her of her brother’ passing.  The baroness paid to transport Sonny’s body back to Pittsburgh and paid for his funeral.  Sonny’s grave lies in the Greenwood Cemetery in Sharpsburg, PA.  Regarded as the quintessential hard bop pianist, Clark never got his due before he passed away, despite the fact that it can be argued that he never played a bad recording date either as a sideman or as a leader.  (Edited from Sound Projections)

8 comments:

boppinbob said...

Today’s birthday celebrity was suggested by egroj @ egroj world.

For “Sonny Clark ‎– Four Classic Albums” go here:

CD1

https://www.upload.ee/files/12037079/Sonny_Clark_CD1.rar.html

1-6: ‘Dial “S” For Sonny’

1. Dial “S” For Sonny
2. Bootin’ It
3. It Could Happen To You
4. Sonny’s Mood
5. Shoutin’ On A Riff
6. Love Walked In

7-12: ‘Sonny Clark Trio’

7. Be-Bop
8. I Didn’t Know What Time It Was
9. Two Bass Hit
10. Tadd’s Delight
11. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
12. I’ll Remember April

CD2

https://www.upload.ee/files/12037092/Sonny_Clark_CD2.rar.html

1-4: ‘Cool Struttin’’

1. Cool Struttin’
2. Blue Minor
3. Sippin’ At Bells
4. Deep Night

5-10: ‘Leapin’ and Lopin’’

5. Something Special
6. Deep In A Dream
7. Melody For C
8. Eric Walks
9. Voodoo
10. Midnight Mambo

‘Dial “S” For Sonny’ Art Farmer (trumpet): Curtis Fuller (trombone): Hank Mobley (tenor sax): Sonny Clark (piano): Wilbur Ware (bass): Louis Hayes (drums) recorded July 1957

‘Sonny Clark Trio’ Sonny Clark (piano): Paul Chambers (bass): Philly Joe Jones (drums) recorded October 1957

‘Cool Struttin’’ Art Farmer (trumpet): Jackie McLean (alto sax): Sonny Clark (piano): Paul Chambers (bass): Philly Joe Jones (drums) recorded January 1958

‘Leapin’ and Lopin’’ Tommy Turrentine (trumpet): Charlie Rouse (tenor sax) and Ike Quebec (tenor sax: Deep in a Dream only): Sonny Clark (piano): Butch Warren (bass): Billy Higgins (drums) recorded November 1961

AVID Jazz continues with its Four Classic album series with a re-mastered 2CD release by Sonny Clark.
Considering he died from a heroin overdose at the tragically early age of 31 (a horribly familiar and classic jazz death, some would say!), Sonny Clark actually had an amazingly prolific career in jazz, both as a leader and a sideman. At age 20, he was in California working with Wardell Gray and by 1953 was touring the States and Europe with Buddy De Franco. He hooked up as accompanist to Dinah Washington in 1957 in order to get back to the East Coast where he thought the work was. He was right! He became the “go to” pianist for many of the greatest names in jazz at the time including Grant Green, John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Burrell, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Sonny Rollins, Lee Morgan, Billie Holiday and a great many more. Most of this work was done with the legendary Blue Note label and in fact all nine of his solo albums were recorded for the label. Here Avid present four of the best! (Avid notes)

boppinbob said...


Below is a selected discography taken from various music blogs. A very big thank you to credited up loaders with active links, especially egrog.

(1) egroj @ egroj world (PASSWORD: egroj)
(2) bluesever @ the blues-thatjazz
(3) Mike1985 @ Jazz’n’Blues Club

1957 – Dial S foe Sonny (see first comment)
1957 – Sonny Clark Trio (see first comment)

1957/58 - Sonny Clark • The Art Of The Trio (1)

https://ulozto.net/file/rFDUSFHU8/sonny-clark-the-art-of-the-trio-rar

1958 - Sonny Clark • Standards (1)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/dtcnq253ke9j06g/Sonny_Clark_-_Standards_%25281958%2529.rar/file

1958 - Sonny Clark • The 45 Sessions (1)

https://ulozto.net/file/rV599tniQ/sonny-clark-the-45-sessions-rar

1958 - Sonny Clark Trio • Blues In The Night (1)

https://ulozto.net/file/k4MZydk51/sonny-clark-trio-blues-in-the-night-rar

1958 – Cool Struttin’ (see first comment)

1959 - Sonny Clark • My Conception (2)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/krf7p2o9wondaw3/SnnClrk-MC59.zip/file

1960 - Sonny Clark Trio With George Duvivier & Max Roach • The 1960 Time Sessions (1)

https://ulozto.net/file/slmtZFCqO4NK/sonny-clark-trio-with-george-duvivier-max-roach-the-1960-time-sessions-rar

1960 - Sonny Clark Trio • Sonny Clark Trio (1)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/l90sm4hhr4bndxx/Sonny_Clark_Trio_-_Sonny_Clark_Trio.rar/file

1960 - Sonny Clark - Blues Mambo (2)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/8oqvln7c56uk7fn/SnnClrk-BM60.zip/file

1961 - Sonny Clark • Leapin' and Lopin' (see first comment)

1961 -Grant Green • Quartets with Sonny Clark (1)

https://ulozto.net/file/xVYa8kA76/grant-green-quartets-with-sonny-clark-rar

2004 – Sonny Clark Quintetes (3) FLAC

https://filecat.net/f/HjYsgA

2018 – These Days (compilation) (3)

https://filecat.net/f/xV3ngn

Bob Mac said...

Thank you for Four Classic Albums.

David Federman said...

Bless you for this tribute. Both on the West and East Coasts, he excelled. You might want to add some of the fabulous records he made with clarinetist Buddy DeFranco. He even played organ on one of them. Again, many thanks--not just for this but for all those whom you honor. If there were annual awards for blog excellence, you would be a winner every year.

boppinbob said...

Hi David,
Many thanks for your kind comments. Most do not realize how long it can take in compiling the blog. Firstly finding whose birthday it is. Secondly editing information from the web usually enough to fill an A4 page. Then finding photos and video (if any) also inserting an mp3 preferably of a single or 78. Album tracks as a last resort. This leaves me just a small amount of time to search for any active links to share. I state selected discography as I usually visit a few of my favourite blogs for active links.All the time I am enjoying this daily challenge I shall keep on blogging. Although now retired I am now more active with my local radio station and shows. (http://angelradio.co.uk/)
Regards, Bob

egroj.jazz said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ricardo said...

MUCHİSİMAS GRACİAS !!

RiCK SAUNDERS said...

Thanks a million, Bob! Sonny is new to me but I figured you'd have something and as always you present a terrific collection.
Thanks again!
-Rick