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 Bayer pharmaceutical company in 1898 to ease cough-inducing illnesses. In New York in 1924, the city government estimated that 94% of crimes were being committed by heroin addicts.
In the 1920s, the government cracked down on its use, which shifted raw-heroin production to hidden labs in China. The unrefined heroin was then shipped to Marseilles, France, where it was refined and then trafficked and distributed by organized crime syndicates in Europe and New York.
During World War II, supplies dried up due to tightened shipping security. After the war, organized crime resumed the import of heroin to Northeastern ports and distributed the illegal narcotic to major cities throughout the country through their criminal networks. Easy prey for mobsters were jazz musicians, who worked under creative pressure at night and found that heroin eased anxiety and depression. If you could turn one top musician into an addict, you'd have dozens of his acolytes as customers in short order.
One of these many jazz “flowers" who became a heron addict was pianist Sonny Clark. Born in Herminie, Pa, near Pittsburgh, Clark was the youngest of eight children. At age 12, he moved to Pittsburgh, presumably with his mother or to live with another relative. since his father, a coal miner, had died just weeks after he was born of tuberculosis.
A quick study, Clark picked up the piano by listening to artists who played at a local hotel. He also listened to records, particularly those by Bud Powell and then Horace Silver. He visited an aunt in Los Angeles in 1951 when he was 20 and remained to play with tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray. He played at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, and his first recording was on a Teddy Charles album called West Coasters in 1953.
Clark then played with Art Pepper, Jimmy Raney, Buddy DeFranco, Billie Holiday, Cal Tjader, Serge Chaloff, Howard Rumsey, Sonny Criss, Stan Levey, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins and Hank Mobley. Then he began recording as a solo artist for Blue Note.
Interestingly, there was an elegance and grace to Clark's playing that transcended Powell, especially in trio settings, and there was a softer and more beckoning keyboard touch than Silver's. Ultimately Clark had his own sound as a leader and sideman. Throughout the 1950s, Clark appeared on albums led by top jazz artists.
Now Mosaic has just released The Complete Sonny Clark Blue Note Sessions, a six-CD box and a lush booklet with excellent liner notes by Bob Blumenthal. The albums in the set include Dial “S" for Sonny, Sonny's Crib, Sonny Clark Trio, Cool Struttin', Leapin' and Lopin', Sonny Clark Quintets, Blues in the Night, My Conception and The Art of the Trio.
Most notable about this box is the sterling sound of the music. The tracks were mastered from hi-res files of the original analog masters by Andrew Meyer and Nancy Conforti at New York's Swan Studios. In addition, 24-bit technology was used throughout the production.
The result is a high-gloss warmth and clarity. Clark's piano is in full relief—the swinging bop lines, the feathery punch of his notes and the dance-like style of his fluid ideas. You also get to hear the bass and drums on trio sessions with a realistic vibrancy.
It should be noted that three of the albums weren't released until after Clark's death. These include Sonny Clark Quintets (1976), Blues in the Night (1979), My Conception (1979) and The Art of the Trio (1980). Which means Clark only had five leadership albums for Blue Note out at the time of his passing.
The new box's re-mastered sound gives fresh import to Clark's piano, especially on the trio sessions. On the horn albums, there's a lustrous veneer that allows horn players such as John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, Curtis Fuller, Hank Mobley, Art Farmer, Charlie Rouse, Ike Quebec and Tommy Turrentine to stand out in collaboration with Clark's piano. It should be noted that if you purchase this box and chose to import the music and listen back on Apple Music, you will need to re-order the tracks a bit if your want to hear them in chronological order. For all of the material to fit on the six CDs, Mosaic had to pack them to fit, and some of the material is out of order. So after you import, go to Dial “S" for Sonny at Wiki and move forward in the chronology, adding the album names and recording dates. Then reshuffle the deck where needed if you want them in order.
Another wonderful historical package by Mosaic that is rewarding both for the restored music and history laid out in the booklet. Now it's even easier to understand what Bill Evans and so many other jazz greats heard in Sonny Clark and what caused them to marvel at his playing. Such a shame that a heroin overdose led to a heart attack in January 1963 that ended his life at age 31 Imagine if we had another 15 albums or more by Clark. So tragic and sad.
Heroin has a long history that dates back centuries. In the U.S., the drug was legal and marketed by the Bayer pharmaceutical company in 1898 to ease cough-inducing illnesses. In New York in 1924, the city government estimated that 94% of crimes were being committed by heroin addicts.
In the 1920s, the government cracked down on its use, which shifted raw-heroin production to hidden labs in China. The unrefined heroin was then shipped to Marseilles, France, where it was refined and then trafficked and distributed by organized crime syndicates in Europe and New York.
During World War II, supplies dried up due to tightened shipping security. After the war, organized crime resumed the import of heroin to Northeastern ports and distributed the illegal narcotic to major cities throughout the country through their criminal networks. Easy prey for mobsters were jazz musicians, who worked under creative pressure at night and found that heroin eased anxiety and depression. If you could turn one top musician into an addict, you'd have dozens of his acolytes as customers in short order.
One of these many jazz “flowers" who became a heron addict was pianist Sonny Clark. Born in Herminie, Pa, near Pittsburgh, Clark was the youngest of eight children. At age 12, he moved to Pittsburgh, presumably with his mother or to live with another relative. since his father, a coal miner, had died just weeks after he was born of tuberculosis.
A quick study, Clark picked up the piano by listening to artists who played at a local hotel. He also listened to records, particularly those by Bud Powell and then Horace Silver. He visited an aunt in Los Angeles in 1951 when he was 20 and remained to play with tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray. He played at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, and his first recording was on a Teddy Charles album called West Coasters in 1953.
Clark then played with Art Pepper, Jimmy Raney, Buddy DeFranco, Billie Holiday, Cal Tjader, Serge Chaloff, Howard Rumsey, Sonny Criss, Stan Levey, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins and Hank Mobley. Then he began recording as a solo artist for Blue Note.
Interestingly, there was an elegance and grace to Clark's playing that transcended Powell, especially in trio settings, and there was a softer and more beckoning keyboard touch than Silver's. Ultimately Clark had his own sound as a leader and sideman. Throughout the 1950s, Clark appeared on albums led by top jazz artists.
Now Mosaic has just released The Complete Sonny Clark Blue Note Sessions, a six-CD box and a lush booklet with excellent liner notes by Bob Blumenthal. The albums in the set include Dial “S" for Sonny, Sonny's Crib, Sonny Clark Trio, Cool Struttin', Leapin' and Lopin', Sonny Clark Quintets, Blues in the Night, My Conception and The Art of the Trio.
Most notable about this box is the sterling sound of the music. The tracks were mastered from hi-res files of the original analog masters by Andrew Meyer and Nancy Conforti at New York's Swan Studios. In addition, 24-bit technology was used throughout the production.
The result is a high-gloss warmth and clarity. Clark's piano is in full relief—the swinging bop lines, the feathery punch of his notes and the dance-like style of his fluid ideas. You also get to hear the bass and drums on trio sessions with a realistic vibrancy.
It should be noted that three of the albums weren't released until after Clark's death. These include Sonny Clark Quintets (1976), Blues in the Night (1979), My Conception (1979) and The Art of the Trio (1980). Which means Clark only had five leadership albums for Blue Note out at the time of his passing.
The new box's re-mastered sound gives fresh import to Clark's piano, especially on the trio sessions. On the horn albums, there's a lustrous veneer that allows horn players such as John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, Curtis Fuller, Hank Mobley, Art Farmer, Charlie Rouse, Ike Quebec and Tommy Turrentine to stand out in collaboration with Clark's piano. It should be noted that if you purchase this box and chose to import the music and listen back on Apple Music, you will need to re-order the tracks a bit if your want to hear them in chronological order. For all of the material to fit on the six CDs, Mosaic had to pack them to fit, and some of the material is out of order. So after you import, go to Dial “S" for Sonny at Wiki and move forward in the chronology, adding the album names and recording dates. Then reshuffle the deck where needed if you want them in order.
Another wonderful historical package by Mosaic that is rewarding both for the restored music and history laid out in the booklet. Now it's even easier to understand what Bill Evans and so many other jazz greats heard in Sonny Clark and what caused them to marvel at his playing. Such a shame that a heroin overdose led to a heart attack in January 1963 that ended his life at age 31 Imagine if we had another 15 albums or more by Clark. So tragic and sad.
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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