Sonny Clark

{{Infobox musical artist|

| name = Sonny Clark

| image = Sonny Clark.jpg

| caption =

| image_size =

| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist

| birth_name = Conrad Yeatis Clark

| alias =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1931|7|21}}

| birth_place = Herminie, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1963|1|13|1931|7|21}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| origin =

| instrument = Piano

| genre = {{hlist|Jazz|hard bop}}

| occupation = Musician

| years_active = 1953–1963

| label = Blue Note

| website =

| current_members =

| past_members =

}}

Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark (July 21, 1931 – January 13, 1963) was an American jazz pianist and composer who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom.Palmer, Robert (March 18, 1987). "[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DC1030F93BA25750C0A961948260 The Pop Life; Recalling Sonny Clark]". The New York Times. Retrieved on September 1, 2007.

Early life

Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town east of Pittsburgh.Stephenson, Sam (January 13, 2011) [http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/01/13/sonny-clark/ "Notes from a Biographer: Sonny Clark"]. The Paris Review. 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.

Later life and career

While visiting an aunt in California at age 20, Clark decided to stay and began working with saxophonist Wardell Gray. Clark went to San Francisco with Oscar Pettiford and after a couple months, was working with clarinetist Buddy DeFranco in 1953. Clark toured the United States and Europe with DeFranco until January 1956, when he joined The Lighthouse All-Stars, led by bassist Howard Rumsey.

Wishing to return to the east coast, Clark served as accompanist for singer Dinah Washington in February 1957 in order to relocate to New York City. In New York, Clark was often requested as a sideman by many musicians, partly because of his rhythmic comping. He frequently recorded for Blue Note Records as one of their house musicians, playing as a sideman with many hard bop players, including Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Paul Chambers, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Art Farmer, Curtis Fuller, Grant Green, Philly Joe Jones, Clifford Jordan, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Art Taylor, and Wilbur Ware. He also recorded sessions with Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Billie Holiday, Stanley Turrentine, and Lee Morgan.

As a leader, Clark recorded albums Dial "S" for Sonny (1957, Blue Note), Sonny's Crib (1957, Blue Note), Sonny Clark Trio (1957, Blue Note), Cool Struttin' (1958, Blue Note), Blues in the Night (1979, Blue Note, also released on Standards), and a second piano trio album titled Sonny Clark Trio (1960, Time Records).

Clark died in New York City on January 13, 1963 (aged 31). The official cause was listed as a heart attack, but the likely cause was a heroin overdose.[http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/01/13/sonny-clark/?id=lM7kWuxnkvkC&pg=PT166&dq=%22Sonny+Clark%22+dead+OR+died+OR+death&lr=&cd=11#v=onepage&q=%22Sonny%20Clark%22&f=false Blue Note Records: the biography] By Richard Cook[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNqgYy3OcCwC&dq=%22Sonny+Clark%22+dead+OR+died+OR+death&pg=PA252 Bebop] By Scott Yanow p. 252[https://books.google.com/books?id=I5wrGL-a-Q8C&dq=%22Sonny+Clark%22+dead+OR+died+OR+death&pg=RA3-PA17 The rough guide to jazz By] Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, Brian Priestley. p. 117{{cite book|title=Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original|last=Kelly |first=Robin |date=November 2, 2014 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1439190463 |page=331 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tz9xDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA331}}

Legacy

Close friend and fellow jazz pianist Bill Evans dedicated the composition "NYC's No Lark" (an anagram of "Sonny Clark") to him after his death, included on Evans' Conversations with Myself (1963). John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Ray Drummond, and Bobby Previte recorded an album of Clark's compositions, Voodoo (1985), as the Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet. Zorn also recorded several of Clark's compositions with Bill Frisell and George E. Lewis on News for Lulu (1988) and More News for Lulu (1992).

Discography

= As leader =

class="wikitable sortable"

!Recording date

!Title

!Label

!Year released

!Notes

1954-01

| The Sonny Clark Memorial Album

| Xanadu

| 1976

| Most tracks solo piano; some tracks trio, with Simon Brehm (bass), Bobby White (drums); trio tracks in concert

1955-01

| Oakland, 1955

| Uptown

| 1995

| Trio, with Jerry Good (bass), Al Randall (drums); concert

1957-07

| Dial "S" for Sonny

| Blue Note

| 1957

| One track trio, with Wilbur Ware (bass), Louis Hayes (drums); most tracks sextet, with Art Farmer (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Hank Mobley (tenor sax) added

1957-09

| Sonny's Crib

| Blue Note

| 1958

| Sextet, with Donald Byrd (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), John Coltrane (tenor sax), Paul Chambers (bass), Art Taylor (drums)

1957-10

| Sonny Clark Trio

| Blue Note

| 1958

| One track solo piano; most tracks trio, with Paul Chambers (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums)

1957-12,
1958-01

| Sonny Clark Quintets

| Blue Note

| 1976

| Quintet with either Clifford Jordan (tenor sax), Kenny Burrell (guitar), Paul Chambers (bass), Pete LaRoca (drums) or Art Farmer (trumpet), Jackie McLean (alto sax), Paul Chambers (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums)

1958-01

| Cool Struttin'

| Blue Note

| 1958

| Quintet, with Art Farmer (trumpet), Jackie McLean (alto sax), Paul Chambers (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums)

1957-10,
1958-11

| The Art of The Trio

| Blue Note

| 1980

| Some tracks trio with Jymie Merritt (bass), Wes Landers (drums); some tracks trio with Paul Chambers (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums)

1958-11,
1958-12

| Blues in the Night

| Blue Note

| 1979

| Trio, with Paul Chambers (bass), Wes Landers (drums)

1957-12,
1959-03

| My Conception

| Blue Note

| 1979

| Quintet, with Donald Byrd (trumpet), Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Paul Chambers (bass), Art Blakey (drums); reissue added tracks from Sonny Clark Quintets

1960-01

| Sonny Clark Trio
also released as The 1960 Time Sessions

| Time/Bainbridge/Tompkins Square

| 1960

| Trio with George Duvivier (bass), Max Roach (drums)

1961-11

| Leapin' and Lopin'

| Blue Note

| 1962

| Five tracks quintet, with Tommy Turrentine (trumpet), Charlie Rouse (tenor sax), Butch Warren (bass), Billy Higgins (drums); one track quartet, with Ike Quebec (tenor sax) in place of Turrentine and Rouse

Compilations

Standards (Blue Note, 1998)

= As sideman =

With Sonny Criss

Go Man! (Imperial Records, 1956)
Sonny Criss Plays Cole Porter (Imperial, 1956)

With Buddy DeFranco

In a Mellow Mood (Verve, 1954)
Cooking the Blues (Verve, 1955)
Autumn Leaves (Verve, 1956)
Sweet and Lovely (Verve, 1956)
Jazz Tones (Verve, 1956)

With Curtis Fuller

Bone & Bari (Blue Note, 1958) – rec. 1957
Curtis Fuller Volume 3 (Blue Note, 1961) – rec. 1957
Two Bones (Blue Note, 1980) – rec. 1958

With Dexter Gordon

Go (Blue Note, 1962)
A Swingin' Affair (Blue Note, 1962)
Landslide (Blue Note, 1980) – rec. 1961-62

With Bennie Green

Soul Stirrin' (Blue Note, 1958)
Bennie Green Swings the Blues (Enrica, 1960)
Bennie Green (Time, 1960)
The 45 Session (Blue Note, 1975) – rec. 1958

With Grant Green

Gooden's Corner (Blue Note, 1980) – rec. 1961
Nigeria (Blue Note, 1980) – rec. 1962
Oleo (Blue Note, 1980) – rec. 1962
Born to Be Blue (Blue Note, 1985) – rec. 1962
The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark (Blue Note, 1997) – compilation

With Jackie McLean

Jackie's Bag (Blue Note, 1959)
A Fickle Sonance (Blue Note, 1961)
Vertigo (Blue Note, 1962)
Tippin' the Scales (Blue Note, 1962)

With Hank Mobley

Hank Mobley (Blue Note, 1958) – rec. 1957
Poppin' (Blue Note, 1980) – rec. 1957
Curtain Call (Blue Note, 1984) – rec. 1957

With Art Pepper

Straight-Ahead Jazz Volume One (Straight Ahead Jazz, 1989) – rec. 1953
Straight Ahead Jazz Vol. Two (Straight Ahead Jazz, 1989) – rec. 1953
Art Pepper With Sonny Clark Trio Vol. 2 (Straight Ahead Jazz, 1989) – rec. 1953

With Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars