Jazz Articles about Mike Clark

About Mike Clark

Radio & Podcasts

Thelonius Monk, Don Byron & Mike Clark

by Joe Dimino
October 30, 2022

We start the 774th Episode of Neon Jazz with drummer Mike Clark and bassist Leon Lee Dorsey with the title track off their new project Blues on Top. We also hear new music from Chris Parker, Joe McCarthy leading his NY Afro Bop Alliance Big Band and John Fumasoli with his band The Jones Factor. Drummer Dafnis Prieto also has a new project out. We finish off the hour with emerging trombonist Miró Henry Sobrer with music from his 2022 ...

Album Review

The Headhunters: Speakers In The House

Read "Speakers In The House" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
October 25, 2022

Although it appears to have been self-released in limited numbers in 2019, this Ropeadope release of Speakers In The House is effectively the Headhunters's first album since Platinum (Owl) in 2011. The band continues to be led and produced by its two Herbie Hancock-era members, percussionist Bill Summers and drummer Mike Clark, who together have kept the outfit intermittently active since Hancock moved on to other things in the mid 1970s. Summers played on the band's debut, ...

Album Review

Mike Clark, Leon Lee Dorsey: Blues on Top

Read "Blues on Top" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
September 6, 2022

While drummer Mike Clark and bassist Leon Lee Dorsey are the nominal leaders on Blues on Top, the album's subtitle —"featuring Mike LeDonne"—speaks volumes about its import and rationale. Without LeDonne at the keyboard, Clark and Dorsey would have to amplify their rhythmic talents to compensate for the absence of a secure melodic presence. Luckily, they don't have to as LeDonne is more than happy to shoulder that responsibility, leaving his teammates free to do what they do best --fill ...

Multiple Reviews

Mike Clark: The Drummer Gets (And Gives) Some!

by Doug Collette
September 10, 2021

Drummer Mike Clark must've already had some estimable pedigree in the first place to be invited to join Herbie Hancock's seminal funk/fusion ensemble Headhunters back in the Seventies. But the man at the kit only built upon his existing prestige during his tenure with that group and then went on to expand upon his rep with a variety of solo projects. In doing so, Clark was hardly a journeyman musician, but he ranged far and wide enough to satisfy an ...

Album Review

Mike Clark & Michael Zilber: Mike Drop

by Paul Rauch
September 3, 2021

A first encounter with saxophonist Michael Zilber in a live setting leaves a very large impression. Enshrouding the marvelous facility and deeply melodic approach to improvisation is “the sound" which allows the listener to receive the music in a soulful way. When that sound and imagination are driven by the post-bop mastery of drummer Mike Clark, illuminating things can and will take place.Celebrating a ten-year friendship, Zilber and Clark laid down this session in Oakland in 2018 for ...

Album Review

Michael Wolff: Live at Vitellos

Read "Live at Vitellos" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
March 1, 2021

As time stretches the fabric of reality, what with venues closed or operating under incredibly restrictive mandates since March of 2020, it's starting to feel like it's been a decade since we've been able to gather in the quiets of a club to take in a rapturous set of music. So it's only fitting that this ten-year-old gem should drop into the world at this juncture, giving pause to bemoan what's been lost and appreciate a music found.

Album Review

Leon Lee Dorsey: Thank You Mr. Mabern!

Read "Thank You Mr. Mabern!" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
February 26, 2021

He's studied classical double bass with Ron Carter and he's played alongside many of our most revered, among them Lionel Hampton, Art Blakey, andCassandra Wilson. Still, bassist/composer/arrangerLeon Lee Dorsey's name doesn't roll off everyone lips when discussing the top ranks of today's foremost, fearless bassists. But here's breaking news: Dorsey's got himself one hell of a rakin' and scrapin' new album spotlighting, God bless his good heart, the late Harold Mabern, sitting in two months before his passing in September ...