Jazz Articles about Mike Clark

About Mike Clark

Album Review

The real test of a jazz singer is what happens when they step away from the familiar. Singing a standard is one thing, but finding something personal in a song done countless times is quite another. Sarah Pillow understands the difference. On Wanderer, she takes us through a varied collection of music and fully inhabits each piece. She has a distinctive voice, takes chances, and is curious about where a song might lead her. On this outing, Pillow ...

Album Review

Jerry Z: Break Allegro

Read "Break Allegro" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 28, 2026

Jerry Z, a worthy successor to such organ maestros as Joey DeFrancesco, Mel Rhyne, Jimmy Smith, Charles Earland, Jimmy McGriff and others too numerous to single out, shows on Break Allegro, only the second recording as leader of his own group, that he clearly deserves to be mentioned in such esteemed company. In musical parlance, allegro means “fast" or “lively," which is exactly how Jerry Z's quartet opens the album, sprinting from the starting line on the title ...

Album Review

Vince Guaraldi: It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown

Read "It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown" reviewed by Joshua Weiner

by Joshua Weiner
September 11, 2026

The winsome series of pianist Vince Guaraldi's soundtracks for the original Peanuts television specials is a gift from Lee Mendelson Film Productions that keeps on giving. Arriving just in time for “spooky season" is the premiere release of music from 1974's It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown, with three colored vinyl pressings unique to individual retailers (Urban Outfitters, Barnes & Noble, and Think Indie) available on September 11, 2026, followed by the wide release of black vinyl, CD, and digital versions ...

Album Review

Mike Clark: Kuon Ganjo

Read "Kuon Ganjo" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 8, 2026

Not much is really new on veteran drummer Mike Clark's 2026 album, Kuon Ganjo (Time Without Beginning), which encompasses a series of nine hard-bop themes performed by Clark's able quintet. Having said that, the most reasonable question is, do they do it well? And the answer to that is an unequivocal yes. Clark, who has been around the block more than a few times during his decades-long career as a jazz/funk timekeeper and is perhaps best known for ...

Album Review

Daggerboard: The Skipper and Mike Clark

Read "The Skipper and Mike Clark" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 31, 2026

The rhythm section--more specifically, bassist Henry “The Skipper" Franklin and drummer Mike Clark--is front and center on the fourth recording by San Francisco Bay-area Daggerboard, the brainchild of trumpeter Erik Jekabson and percussionist Gregory Howe, who have enlisted a large array of supporting actors to help refine and sharpen their unique musical vision. That includes a four-member string section on three of the album's ten numbers, two of which ("Tanzanian Skies," the closing “Ruaha Daybreak") were written by ...

Multiple Reviews

Mike Clark and Phil Haynes: Keep Beating The Drum(s)

by Doug Collette
February 9, 2026

A great drummer is the driving force of any band's performances, whether on stage or in the studio. So, is it any surprise that jazz ensembles led by drummers invariably evince strong collective personalities, even if the members of those groups are as self-motivated and inner-directed as their leader(s)? Each of these bands, led by Mike Clark and Phil Haynes, exhibit a distinct persona, each reflecting the salient virtues of their leaders: a predilection for adventure, a tangible humility, and ...

Album Review

Mike Clark: Itai Doshin

Read "Itai Doshin" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 14, 2025

Itai Doshin is a Buddhist term that, translated from Japanese, refers to a state of harmony wherein individuals share a common goal and purpose, or “many in body, one in mind." That is the level California-based drum legend Mike Clark's quintet strives for on Clark's second album on Gregory Howe's Wide Hive label. Is the mission accomplished? That is for the listener to decide. What can be said is that everyone gives it his (or her) best ...