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)