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Jazz Articles about Clark Sommers
Darrell Grant: The New Black
by Paul Rauch
Pianist Darrell Grant's debut album Black Art (Criss Cross) was released in 1994, and became acclaimed as one of the definitive statements of New York jazz in the 1990s. It featured bassist Christian McBride, drummer Brian Blade, and the late, great Wallace Roney on trumpet—all of whom would go on to make major statements of their own in the music. In 2019, some twenty five years later, Grant had the opportunity to revisit the album repertoire at Birdland, convening bassist ...
Continue ReadingDarren Johnston: Life in Time
by Jack Bowers
Brooklyn-based trumpeter Darren Johnston traveled to Chicago in May 2021 to record Life in Time with three of his favorite musicians: saxophonist Geof Bradfield, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Dana Hall who form their own working trio in the Windy City. The generally charming studio date encompasses ten original compositions, six by Johnston, four by Bradfield. Technically and musically, the foursome is splendid. What is missing—and it takes a tune or two to sink in—is the welcome ...
Continue ReadingThe Adam Larson Trio: With Love, From Chicago
by Dan McClenaghan
The experience begins with the cover art, an old school black-and-white photo of Kansas City-based saxophonist Adam Larson with his hair swooped up in something of a modest 1950s pompadour, like an early Sun Records artist--Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley--sitting in the studio with his ax laid out in front of him. Except Larson's ax is not the guitar; it is the saxophone in the photo's foreground. And the Presley pompadour? It really isn't one; a ball cap pushed back on ...
Continue ReadingKurt Elling: Secrets Are The Best Stories
by Angelo Leonardi
Due anni dopo la pubblicazione di The Questions il cantante di Chicago si presenta con un organico completamente nuovo che fa perno sul pianista panamense Danilo Pérez, aggiunge in un brano il portoricano Miguel Zenón e si avvale di una base ritmica di prim'ordine con altri strumentisti latini. La direzione espressiva di Kurt Elling non è però cambiata e in questo progetto ritroviamo la dimensione introspettiva legata alla riflessione sociopolitica ed etica. Il tutto evidenziato in testi composti ...
Continue ReadingClark Sommers: Peninsula
by Mike Jurkovic
You enter the music of Chicago bassist/composer Clark Sommers with wary expectations: In its open-ness anything can happen. Dark perambulations pop against lighter propulsions. Dialogues take on thesis, equation and whimsy. Discourse holds its own parlance, gives definition, then allows for civil caucus. Because Ba(sh), a trio defined only by the elementary concept that 1+1+1=3, converse as one on Peninsula. Thereby making Sommers' rather simmering, seven scrutinies welcome respites from the breaking news and insistent chatter that bombards us all ...
Continue ReadingClark Sommers Lens: By A Thread
by Dan McClenaghan
Bassist Clark Sommers served up a terrific trio outing in 2013 with Ba(sh) (Origin Record), a teaming with his fellow Chicagoans, reedman Geof Bradfield and drummer Dana Hall. He expands the ensemble to a quintet for By A Thread. Tenorist (mostly, he also adds his bass clarinet to the sound) Geof Bradfield is back, in what amounts to, in part, a reimagination of the organ jazz genre. The By A Thread band is headed up by a bassist; ...
Continue ReadingHans Luchs: Time Never Pauses
by Budd Kopman
While it does not scream downtown, avant-garde, uber originality, guitarist Hans Luchs debut recording, Time Never Pauses, is far from a vanilla, “jazz as style" offering, and, in fact has much going for it. For one thing, his band, consisting of drummer George Fludas, bassist Clark Sommers, pianist Stu Mindeman and Shaun Johnson on trumpet is extremely tight, precise and, in many spots, smoking. Luchs does not dominate the session, and is part of the rhythm section for ...
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