Jazz Articles about Clark Terry

Clark Terry: Porgy & Bess

by Jim Santella
October 4, 2004

With the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, trumpeter Clark Terry interprets memorable selections from America's favorite jazz opera. These arias have long been a favorite of every influential jazz artist. Like Gil Evans and Miles Davis, conductor Jeff Lindberg and maestro Terry have come up with a winning formula. Using Evans' orchestral arrangements, they have recreated all the thrills.

At 83, Terry sounds better than ever. He's kept his full-textured tone in good shape, and continues to massage every note ...

Clark Terry with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra: Porgy & Bess

by Jack Bowers
October 3, 2004

More than four decades ago, trumpeter Miles Davis collaborated with arranger Gil Evans to produce what many observers look upon as the definitive jazz version of George Gershwin's groundbreaking folk opera, Porgy and Bess. It takes a sturdy backbone, not to mention enormous talent, to reproduce and strive to enrich a classic, but into the breach have stepped veteran trumpeter Clark Terry and Jeff Lindberg's 25-member Chicago Jazz Orchestra to do precisely that.

All of the songs save one, Evans' ...

Clark Terry and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra: Porgy & Bess

by Dan McClenaghan
September 17, 2004

Can a remake of a classic album also be considered a classic? It's hard to say. George Gershwin's Porgy & Bess, as done by Miles Davis on flugelhorn in front of Gil Evans' fabulous lighter-than-air arrangements--this was back in 1958--certainly qualifies as a major work of art, quite innovative at the time. The venerable trumpeter/flugelhornist Clark Terry, taking Davis's part in front of the Chicago Jazz Orchestra's reverent reproduction of the Evans charts, makes for a close match to the ...

Clark Terry with Jeff Lindberg and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra: Porgy & Bess

by John Kelman
September 13, 2004

2004 appears to be the year for reevaluation of Miles Davis classics. First came g.org's A New Kind of Blue , applying a more modern bent to the iconic Kind of Blue. Now the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Jeff Lindberg, takes on the Miles Davis/Gil Evans classic Porgy & Bess , this time with Clark Terry in the trumpet seat. Tackling such a seminal album, where Miles was the featured soloist, may seem presumptuous, but the choice ...

Clark Terry & Chico O: Spanish Rice

by David Rickert
April 15, 2004

Spanish Rice has all the ingredients for a successful Latin music session: clattering percussionists, a couple of guitars, peppy horns—there’s even a recipe for Spanish rice included for the curious. And one can assume that Chico O’Farrill, who almost singlehandedly pioneered the use of Latin music in a big band context, is certainly up to the task of establishing a Latin groove with a depth of expression and artistry not present in similar music from the era. But what really ...

Clark Terry and Max Roach: Friendship

by Steven Robinson
July 25, 2003

On the day this lovely recording was released, co-leaders Clark Terry (trumpet) and Max Roach (drums), legends both, were 82 and 79 years old respectively. Perhaps it would be best to get the clichés out of the way. Yes, it’s important that elder statesmen of jazz keep recording, and no one deserves that title more than these gentlemen. And it’s also great that the “old" guys have still “got it,” as they both most assuredly do. But what about the ...

Clark Terry & Max Roach: Friendship

by Jerry D'Souza
April 7, 2003

Trumpeter Clark Terry has long been known to have a puckish sense of humor. That he still has it is obvious when he jumps in on the pliant rhythm set up by Max Roach to simmer and stir the blues with growling note chewing intensity. One minute and 45 seconds later he is done, leaving in his wake a stunning statement not only of the state of the art, but of his playing as well. And at the end of ...