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Hard Bop: An Alternative Top Ten
by Chris May
Hard bop was the jazz centre of the world from the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s, producing many hundreds of immortal albums. Trying to whittle these down to a definitive Top Ten is fun--but it is a subjective and ultimately impossible exercise. In an attempt to dodge those hurdles, the list which ...
Results for pages tagged "Kenny Clarke"...
Kenny Clarke
Born:
Kenny Clarke (born Kenneth Clarke Spearman, later aka, Liaqat Ali Salaam, on January 9, 1914 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-died January 26, 1985 in Paris, France) was a jazz drummer and an early innovator of the bebop style of drumming. As the house drummer at Minton's Playhouse in the early 1940's, he participated in the after hours jams that led to the birth of Be-Bop, which in turn lead to modern jazz.
He is credited with creating the modern role of the ride cymbal as the primary timekeeper. Before, drummers kept time on the high-hat and snare drum ("digging coal", Clarke called it) with heavy support from the bass drum. With Clarke time was played on the cymbal and the bass and snare were used more for punctuation. This led to a much more relaxed style of drumming. From this point more and more rhythms and poly-rhythms are made possible. For this, "every drummer" Ed Thigpen said, "owes him a debt of gratitude." Clarke was nicknamed "Klook" or "Klook-mop" for the style he innovated.
Jazz Musician of the Day: Kenny Clarke
All About Jazz is celebrating Kenny Clarke's birthday today! Kenny Clarke (born Kenneth Clarke Spearman, later aka, Liaqat Ali Salaam, on January 9, 1914 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-died January 26, 1985 in Paris, France) was a jazz drummer and an early innovator of the bebop style of drumming. As the house drummer at Minton's Playhouse in the ...
Coleman Hawkins: Fifty Years Gone, A Saxophone Across Time
by Arthur R George
Fifty years ago this past year, Coleman Hawkins, considered the father of tenor saxophone in jazz, passed away. Thelonious Monk was pacing back and forth in the hallway outside Hawkins' hospital room when the saxophonist succumbed at age 64 on the morning of May 19, 1969, from pneumonia and other complications. Monk was holding a short ...
Con Alma Announces Roger Humphries’ Thursday Night Residency
Con Alma is excited to announce a new Thursday night residency beginning on November 14. Pittsburgh drumming legend Roger Humphries, whom Horace Silver once described as “one of my best drummers”, will take the Con Alma stage every Thursday from 8:00PM- 11:00PM. Perhaps most famous for his contributions to Silver’s Song for My Father and Cape ...
The Alto After Bird - Pepper, Woods, McLean, Adderley (1957 - 1960)
by Russell Perry
When Charlie Parker died at 34 in 1955, it was as if an ancient tree fell in the forest with the resulting sunlight promoting the growth of numerous alto saxophone progeny. Art Pepper appeared in Stan Kenton's Orchestra in 1950 and by 1953 was recording as a leader while still collaborating with West Coast colleagues like ...
Steve Khan: Patchwork
by John Kelman
Amongst the many myths out there about music-making—especially in jazz, where the improvisation quotient is often so high—is that composing may, indeed, be work, but doesn't require the kind of relentless attention to detail that far more truthfully defines how many artists write and arrange their music. These days, one need only look to music by ...
US Military Service Bands: Histories & Heroes
by Chris M. Slawecki
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 US Air Force Airmen of Note The premier jazz ensemble of the US Air Force, the Airmen of Note is one of six musical ensembles that comprise The US Air Force Band. Created in 1950 to continue the tradition of Major Glenn Miller's Army Air Forces ...
More Miles/Gallon
by Marc Cohn
This week we return with a “Bitches Brew -Day 2" and a “compare and contrast" between two Wayne Shorter tunes (from Super Nova) versus Miles Davis (from Water Babies). But of course, there's more. We moon over Anita O'Day (a centennial warmup) and go to a hotel with Kenny Clarke keeping time on a phone book ...
The Genius of Modern Music, Thelonious Monk on Blue Note (1947 - 1950)
by Russell Perry
(If the Mixcloud player for this program is unavailable in your country, please scroll down and listen via Soundcloud.) In 1940, Minton's Playhouse on West 118th Street hired drummer Kenny Clarke as a bandleader. For the house band, Clarke hired trumpeter Joe Guy, bassist Nick Fenton, and an eccentric pianist named Thelonious Monk. ...
