Sonny Clark - The Complete Blue Note Sessions [2023] (6 x CDs)

JAZZ SUNDAY

SONNY CLARK

Sonny Clark - The Complete Blue Note Sessions [2023] (6 x CDs)

Sonny Clark grew up the last of eight kids, 20 miles east of Pittsburgh in a mining town with a “2” in the name (the mining company whose workers lived there operated two shafts. Clark’s dad, who mined coal, died from lung disease when his boy was just two months old). A photograph of his second-grade class shows that Clark was the only black kid among 32 students.

He started playing piano where he was four, displaying early prowess. Clark was already performing on piano at the local black hotel when he was still in grade school and at 15, he performed at an historic “Night of the Stars” concert that featured Earl Hines, Mary Lou Williams, Billy Strayhorn, Errol Garner, Billy Eckstine, Roy Eldridge, and others. 

A trip to California to visit relatives in 1951 proved momentous for the then-19-year-old musician. He stayed on the West Coast for six years, working extensively with Oscar Pettiford and Wardell Gray, making his recording debut with Teddy Charles. His 1954-55 tenure with Buddy DeFranco brought him considerable exposure nationally. Known primarily as a soloist, he was schooled in comping by listening to Hampton Hawes. From then on, Clark was considered one of the most naturally sympathetic pianists in the business, making him forever in demand. A cross-country tour in 1957 with Dinah Washington ultimately brought him to New York (a more comfortable setting musically for him than the West Coast) where he gigged with Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, and after making his recording debut for Blue Note with Hank Mobley, almost everybody. 

The surface details of Sonny Clark’s brief life are far too familiar to jazz lovers – a dependable and innovative young talent, cut down too young because of addiction. One contemporary jazz journalist expressed in 1962 the deep sorrow of witnessing “one of our jazz greats” trapped in a path that could only lead in one direction. 

Alfred Lion of Blue Note first hired him on a 1957 date for Hank Mobley, and that set the stage for most of his recorded output. Including the nine dates he led for Blue Note Clark was on 22 dates between June 1957 and April 1958, and another 13 from August 1961 and October 1962. His health may have been challenged, but his musicianship was soaring. (mosaicrecords.com)

It’s impossible to sum up Sonny Clark’s music as sounding like the music of one player or another without adding a “but” to the description, including appreciative words about one component or another of his playing that was his alone.  Yes, he could match the speed and rhythmic inventiveness of Powell, but added a lyrical effortlessness that was never Powell’s. In a hard bop vein, he could recall Horace Silver, but Clark was groovier and more buoyant. When Clark would give voice to his bluesy side – as he did on two dates focusing on shorter-length singles for the jukebox market – he was matchless.

The extended solos of his trio work revealed what was frequently a horn-like and fluid approach to playing, sometimes catching him discover, become fascinated with, and deeply explore a new harmonic or rhythmic idiom, without ever abandoning his natural instinct to swing. His “Sonny Clark Trio” date from October of 1957 is undoubtedly one of the best examples anywhere, from anyone, of how piano, bass, and drums can work together to create as satisfying a musical experience you could hope to find. Clark’s ensemble dates are easy evidence of why he was so often chosen to occupy the piano bench. It’s hard to imagine a more careful, thoughtful, and supportive teammate, always listening, always filling holes, always economically moving a tune forward with just the right beam of light.

Even in his last session for Blue Note in 1962, regardless of what his lifestyle was doing to his life, his musical instincts were sharp, critical, challenging and lively, proving good support isn’t just welcome, it’s indispensable. The album of that session, “Leapin’ And Lopin,’” is on at least one list of the most essential albums from 1945 to 1970, and justly so.

Saxophonist Johnny Griffin singled him out for his attack on the instrument that recalled Bud Powell’s, but lauded Clark for his finesse and exceptional technique. Dexter Gordon said Clark was his favorite piano accompanist. If you need any other proof of how highly he was regarded, his memorial service included performances by Thelonious Monk and Jackie McLean.

The Complete Sonny Clark Blue Note Sessions includes 61 original tracks and alternates on six CDs. It is by far the best this music has sounded in the CD era, thanks to better analogue-to-digital transfer technology and higher resolution than was available when the music first started getting reissued twenty-five-or-so years after it was recorded. (mosaicrecords.com)

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Track lists

CD01

01 Sonny Clark - Dial 's' For Sonny 7:26

02 Sonny Clark - Bootin' It (Stereo Take) 5:18

03 Sonny Clark - It Could Happen To You 7:01

04 Sonny Clark - Sonny's Mood 8:39

05 Sonny Clark - Shoutin' On A Riff 6:45

06 Sonny Clark - Love Walked In 5:53

07 Sonny Clark - Bootin' It (Mono Take) 5:16

08 Sonny Clark - With A Song In My Heart 7:54

09 Sonny Clark - Speak Low 6:49

10 Sonny Clark - Come Rain Or Come Shine 7:28

11 Sonny Clark - Sonny's Crib (Alternate Take) 9:53

CD02

01 Sonny Clark - Sonny's Crib 13:31

02 Sonny Clark - News For Lulu 8:34

03 Sonny Clark - With A Song In My Heart (Alternate Take) 8:48

04 Sonny Clark - Speak Low (Alternate Take) 6:57

05 Sonny Clark - Junka 7:30

06 Sonny Clark - Blues Blue 7:17

07 Sonny Clark - Minor Meeting (Second Version) 6:47

08 Sonny Clark - Royal Flush (Second Version) 7:00

09 Sonny Clark - Some Clark Bars 6:19

10 Sonny Clark - My Conception 4:44

CD03

01 Sonny Clark - Be-Bop 9:53

02 Sonny Clark - I Didn't Know What Time It Was 4:22

03 Sonny Clark - Two Bass Hit 3:47

04 Sonny Clark - Tadd's Delight 6:02

05 Sonny Clark - Softly As In A Morning Sunrise 6:35

06 Sonny Clark - I'll Remember April 4:57

07 Sonny Clark - I Didn't Know What Time It Was (Alternate Take) 4:21

08 Sonny Clark - Two Bass Hit (Alternate Take) 4:03

09 Sonny Clark - Tadd's Delight (Alternate Take) 5:02

CD04

01 Sonny Clark - Minor Meeting 6:55

02 Sonny Clark - Eastern Incident 8:16

03 Sonny Clark - Little Sonny 6:31

04 Sonny Clark - Cool Struttin' 9:23

05 Sonny Clark - Blue Minor 10:19

06 Sonny Clark - Sippin' At Bell's 8:19

07 Sonny Clark - Deep Night 9:35

08 Sonny Clark - Royal Flush 9:01

09 Sonny Clark - Lover 7:01

CD05

01 Sonny Clark - Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You 4:02

02 Sonny Clark - Ain't No Use 4:50

03 Sonny Clark - I Can't Give You Anything But Love 3:53

04 Sonny Clark - Black Velvet 3:23

05 Sonny Clark - I'm Just A Lucky So And So 4:33

06 Sonny Clark - The Breeze And I 3:59

07 Sonny Clark - Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You (Alternate Take) 3:53

08 Sonny Clark - Blues In The Night 5:57

09 Sonny Clark - Can't We Be Friends? 4:20

10 Sonny Clark - Somebody Loves Me 4:17

11 Sonny Clark - All Of You 3:56

12 Sonny Clark - Dancing In The Dark 3:32

13 Sonny Clark - I Cover The Waterfront 4:43

14 Sonny Clark - Blues In The Night (Alternate Take) 7:13

CD06

01 Sonny Clark - Somethin' Special 6:24

02 Sonny Clark - Deep In A Dream 6:47

03 Sonny Clark - Melody For C 7:49

04 Sonny Clark - Eric Walks 5:43

05 Sonny Clark - Voodoo 7:41

06 Sonny Clark - Midnight Mambo 7:15

07 Sonny Clark - Zellmar's Delight 5:43

08 Sonny Clark - Melody For C (Alternate Take) 8:12

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