W.C. Clark

Clark Sommers Releases Wabash On Calligram Records

Source: Calligram Records
July 28, 2026

Clark Sommers WaBaSH is the debut recording from a quartet that has, in various configurations, been one of Chicago’s most celebrated working bands for nearly two decades. Bassist Sommerstraces his connections with the other members back to the late 1990s when he met tenor saxophonist Geof Bradfield and drummer Dana Hall, building relationships that have encompassed hundreds of gigs and numerous recording projects. The WaBaSH lineup itself grew out of two groups: BaSH, Sommers’ trio with Bradfield and Hall first ...
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Drummer Mike Clark Offers A Varied But Ceaselessly Swinging Program On 'Kuon Ganjo (Time Without Beginning,' Set For August 7 Release On Wide Hive Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity
June 3, 2026

Drummer Mike Clark plies his undisputed mastery of swing in its many guises with both relish and stark imagination on Kuon Ganjo (Time Without Beginning), his August 7 release on Wide Hive Records. Featuring an elite ensemble with trumpeter and NEA Jazz Master Eddie Henderson, tenor saxophonist Craig Handy, pianist Patrice Rushen, and bassist Essiet Okon Essiet, the West Coast jazz icon’s third Wide Hive album, largely a straight-ahead jazz set, is predictably a scorcher…though little else about it is ...
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Daggerboard Showcases A Pair Of Iconic Musical Associates On 'The Skipper And Mike Clark,' Set For Release March 6 On Wide Hive

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity
February 12, 2026

Daggerboard—the collaborative effort of trumpeter/composer Erik Jekabson and multi-instrumentalist/composer Gregory Howe—retrains its spotlight on the rhythm section with The Skipper and Mike Clark, dropping March 6 on Howe’s own Wide Hive Records. The titular characters are bassist Henry “Skipper” Franklin and drummer Mike Clark: two of the living legends of jazz, whose alchemy when brought together forms the core of the new album. Neither Franklin nor Clark is a newcomer to Daggerboard’s pool of collaborators. The bassist previously featured on ...
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Drummer Mike Clark Delivers A Multifaceted But Always Groove-anchored Array On 'Itai Doshin,' Releasing October 3 On Wide Hive Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity
August 24, 2025

As ever, drummer Mike Clark refuses to conform to anyone’s expectations on Itai Doshin, set to release October 3—the leader’s 79th birthday—on Wide Hive Records. The celebrated Californian’s second Wide Hive album is a searing set of (mostly) straight-ahead jazz that keeps listeners guessing even as it never wavers from Clark’s solid, unerring sense of swing. Joining Clark for the festivities is a true all-star quintet that includes trumpeter and NEA Jazz Master Eddie Henderson, tenor saxophonist Craig Handy, pianist ...
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Backgrounder: Grant Green and Sonny Clark

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 19, 2025

Throughout jazz history, there have been magical pairings of musicians in  recording studios. Sometimes the union was established jointly by the two musicians. At other times, producers brought them together. These couplings include Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden, Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Shirley Scott and Stanley Turrentine, Sonny Stitt and Don Patterson, and Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams.  Add to the list guitarist Grant Green and pianist Sonny Clark. ...
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Eclectic And Electric Guitarist Olin Clark Unleashes 'Ephemera' On July 19th!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations
June 12, 2024

NYC-based guitarist Olin Clark invites listeners into the genre-bending world of Ephemera. Featuring alto saxophonist Nathan Reising, bassist Dan Montgomery, and drummer Evan Hyde, Ephemera crafts a dynamic and unique sound that weaves together influences from jazz, rock, folk, experimental, and metal genres. The addition of singer Lily Talmers and keyboardist Aidan Cafferty on compositions “There's Always a Place", and the eponymous “Ephemera" adds a layer of diversity and highlights the album's folk-rock influences. The themes of Ephemera revolve around ...
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Pianist Michael Wolff Guests with Bassist Leon Lee Dorsey and Drummer Mike Clark on Evocative Tribute Album, 'Letter to Bill Evans'

Source: Lydia Liebman Promotions
March 9, 2024

For their seventh outing together as a close-knit, collaborative rhythm tandem, bassist Leon Lee Dorsey and drummer Mike Clark tapped pianist Michael Wolff as third man in their ongoing trio adventures. Wolff, who had previously appeared with Dorsey and Clark on 2020’s Play Sgt. Pepper, was indeed the perfect choice to complete the triumvirate on this heartfelt tribute to the late, great pianist-composer known for his contributions to Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue as well as his hugely influential trio ...
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Schroeder & Masters Celebrate Clark Terry

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 23, 2024

Clark Terry was many things. He was a superb trumpeter and flugelhornist, he was an elegant gentleman, he was a mentor to many musicians and he was as comfortable in a big band as he was in a small group. Clark was also an excellent composer, as baritone saxophonist Adam Schroeder and arranger Mark Masters know well. The pair have just released CT!: Adam Schroeder & Mark Masters Celebrate Clark Terry (Capri), the finest album I've heard this year, and ...
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Mosaic: Complete Sonny Clark Blue Note Sessions

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 14, 2023

If jazz musicians were among the most beautiful creative “flowers" ever produced by America, then heroin can be likened to a fungus that destroyed a large number of them. Today, it's hard to figure how so much heroin was able to enter the United States after World War II and why its import wasn't stopped more aggressively by the FBI.  Heroin has a long history that dates back centuries. In the U.S., the drug was legal and marketed by the ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Sonny Clark

Source: Michael Ricci
July 21, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Sonny Clark's birthday today!

Conrad Yeatis “Sonny" Clark was an American jazz pianist who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom. Contents Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town southeast of Pittsburgh. At age 12, he moved to Pittsburgh. When visiting an aunt in California at age 20, Clark decided to stay and began working with saxophonist Wardell Gray. Clark went to San Francisco with Oscar Pettiford and after a ...
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