Jazz Articles about Stanley Clarke

Stanley Clarke: The Toys of Men

by AAJ Italy Staff
February 8, 2008

Agli umani piace giocare con i giocattoli. Possono essere di tanti tipi. Possono raffigurare e miniaturizzare di tutto, compreso le armi. Ma c’è gioco e gioco e a Stanley Clarke di certo non sfugge. Lui gioca con il basso da tanto tempo, e va davvero bene. Altri giocano con sofisticati meccanismi che annientano il genere umano, e qui sono dolori. Armato, si fa per dire, della sua immensa tecnica, il bassista si danna a dimostrare quanto siamo stupidi. E non ...

Stanley Clarke: The Toys of Men

by Woodrow Wilkins
December 6, 2007

Some artists are excellent songwriters. Others are expert composers. Stanley Clarke belongs to the latter group--a creator of music for art's sake rather than one who is limited to popular songs. His skill for composition comes through strongly on The Toys of Men. Clarke, a pioneering electric bassist, has been a force on the music scene for more than three decades. From early 1970s work with Chick Corea and Return to Forever and a brilliant solo career ...

Stanley Clarke: The Toys of Men

by John Kelman
October 23, 2007

Stanley Clarke's influence continues to be felt long past his 1970s glory days as a member of pianist Chick Corea's flagship fusion group Return to Forever and as a solo artist whose School Days (Epic, 1976) remains required listening for any aspiring electric bassist. In the intervening years, despite the occasional high profile gig, he's been more heavily involved in soundtrack work and solo albums that, while pleasant enough pop/jazz, have never quite lived up to the promise of those ...

Night School: An Evening with Stanley Clarke & Friends

by Woodrow Wilkins
August 4, 2007

Stanley Clarke Night School: An Evening with Stanley Clarke & Friends Heads Up 2007

Over the years, Jaco Pastorius has gained a lot of fame for delivering the electric from the bonds of background obscurity to solo freedom. However, about the time he was blazing a trail of innovation, another bassist was carving a path of his own. Stanley Clarke burst onto the jazz scene in 1971 and quickly found himself working ...

Joe Farrell: Moon Germs

by David Rickert
April 12, 2002

Moon Germs is one of the few true jazz albums put out by CTI, a label whose artists gravitated towards the commercial possibilities of soul jazz, primarily to put food on the table. It’s a jaw dropper, one of the truly classic albums from the era. Farrell, known primarily for his work with Elvin Jones in the sixties and Chick Corea in the early seventies, has wisely recruited three up and comers from the new fusion scene for a session ...

Dom Um Romao: The Complete Muse Recordings

by Derrick A. Smith
October 1, 1999

32 Records maintain their unique level of quality, and responsiveness, with this single-disc reissue of percussionist/composer Dom Um Romao’s complete Muse recordings, two albums from 1973 that determined the locus of bossa -tinged jazz, the nuyorican Latin movement, the Brazilian “corner club” sound, and Brazilian roots music, namely batucada.

Gene Paul’s customary naturalistic remastering allows full expression of the electronic and acoustic layered textures. Both albums, particularly the eponymous debut, move like a dream. The scant vocals provoke humorously from ...

Dom Um Romao: The Complete Muse Recordings

by C. Andrew Hovan
October 1, 1999

According to producer Joel Dorn, customer requests have been staggering for the reissue of Brazilian percussionist Dom Um Romao’s two Muse titles which were both culled from sessions in June and November of 1973. Now available on one compact disc, The Complete Muse Recordings contains the sum total of the original albums Dom Um Romao and Spirit of the Times and as documents of a particularly fruitful period for Brazilian music they are invaluable. Way before the term “world music" ...