Mike Clark
Drummer Mike Clark is well known for his ground-breaking work with Herbie Hancock's 1970s funk-jazz outfit the Headhunters. He even headed up the group after Hancock left to pursue other projects. Clark's work goes far beyond the funk and R&B traditions, however, and his own albums -- like 1989's Give the Drummer Some, 1992's The Funk Stops Here, and 2000's Actual Proof -- reveal him as an astute contemporary jazz drummer and composer. Bebop and organ jazz influences marked 2010's Carnival of Soul, while 2023's avant-garde-leaning Kosen Rufu found him reuniting with two fellow Hancock band alumni, trumpeter Eddie Henderson and percussionist Bill Summers.
Born October 3, 1946, in Sacramento, California, Clark began his professional career at age six in New Orleans, dipping into blues, soul, and jazz. As a youth, he split time between Texas and Northern and Southern California, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, prominently performing with Vince Guaraldi on the legendary themes for the Peanuts television projects. He was also the drummer on singer Betty Davis' maverick 1974 album They Say I'm Different. Clark and the pioneering electric bass guitarist Paul Jackson worked together until both of them were recruited for the Headhunters, recording Thrust, Flood, and Man-Child with Hancock on the Columbia label, and the Headhunters' albums for Arista Records.
Then Clark started his career as a leader with the 1989 Stash album Give the Drummer Some, with help from heavyweights like Jack Wilkins, Jack Walrath, and Ricky Ford. Hopping from label to label over the next 15 years, Clark issued The Funk Stops Here for the Enja label in 1991, was part of Master Drummers, Vol. 3 for Ubiquity, collaborated with Jackson and vibraphonist Marc Wagnon for the 2001 Buckyball CD Conjunction, and issued Summertime for JazzKey in 2003 and his triumphant 2008 release, Blueprints of Jazz, Vol. 1, for Talking House Records. Along the way, Clark revived the Headhunters for recordings and touring, and over the years has collaborated with the likes of Eddie Henderson, Shawn Phillips, Alphonso Johnson, Brian Auger, Christian McBride, Patrice Rushen, Christian Scott, and Robert Hurst, among many others.
In 2010, Clark delivered Carnival of Soul, working with organists Jerry Z and Jeff Pittson, as well as guitarist Rez Abbasi. A concert album, Indigo Blue: Live at the Iridium, appeared in 2019, followed a year later by a trio album of Beatles covers with pianist Michael Wolff and bassist Leon Lee Dorsey. Dorsey was also on board for 2021's Freedom Jazz Dance with pianist Manuel Valera. 2023 brought both an album of Herbie Hancock covers as well as the hard-driving Kosen Rufu with trumpeter Eddie Henderson and percussionist Bill Summers, both fellow Hancock alumni.
© Matt Collar & Michael G. Nastos /TiVo
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Diskografie
17 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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Mike Clark Plays Herbie Hancock
Jazz - Erschienen bei Sunnyside am 26.05.2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Kosen Rufu
Jazz - Erschienen bei Wide Hive Records am 08.09.2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cantaloupe Island
Leon Lee Dorsey, Russell Malone, Mike Clark
Modern Jazz - Erschienen bei Jazz Avenue 1 am 17.02.2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mike Clark Blueprints of Jazz Vol. 1
Modern Jazz - Erschienen bei Talking House Records am 01.01.2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Carnival of Soul
Modern Jazz - Erschienen bei Owl Studios am 12.09.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Indigo Blue (Live At The Iridium)
Jazz - Erschienen bei Ropeadope am 12.07.2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Master Drummers, Vol. 3
Funk - Erschienen bei Ubiquity Records am 03.04.1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Canadian Sunset
John Tank, Peter Madsen, Ted Trimble, Mike Clark
Jazz - Erschienen bei TCB - The Montreux Jazz Label™ am 07.08.2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Accordian, a Collectors Piece
World Music - Erschienen bei Country House am 12.04.2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Devil's Playground
Blues - Erschienen bei Mike Clark am 31.05.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Darker Machines
Rock - Erschienen bei Copperspine Records am 01.01.2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beauty In The Still
Hörbücher - Erschienen bei {L}istener Records am 01.01.2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
When This Is Over
Rock - Erschienen bei Mike Clark am 16.12.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo