Mike Clark | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Michael Jeffrey Clark |
Born | Sacramento, California, U.S. | October 3, 1946
Genres | Jazz |
Occupation | Musician |
Instrument | Drums |
Years active | 1970s–present |
Labels | Ropeadope Records, Talking House Records, Sony, Random Acts, P-Vine, Owl Studios |
Website | www |
Michael Jeffrey Clark (born October 3, 1946) is an American drummer. He gained worldwide recognition as one of America's foremost jazz and funk drummers while playing with Herbie Hancock in the early 1970s. His incisive playing on Hancock's song "Actual Proof" off of the 1974 album Thrust garnered him an international cult following and influenced generations of drummers throughout the world. [1] [2]
Clark was born in Sacramento, California, United States. He traveled around the country with his father, a drummer himself and a union man for the railroad. [2] His dad had a great appreciation for jazz and blues music, and Mike absorbed the music of America while riding the rails. He credits this exposure as forming the foundation for his ability to synthesize many different regional styles. From age 4, he was a prodigy, sitting in – and getting "house"- with bands in Texas and New Orleans. By the time he reached his early twenties he was known as one of the founders of the distinctive East Bay Sound coming out of Oakland, California. [3]
Mike has performed with such well-known jazz greats as Herbie Hancock, [4] [5] [6] Christian McBride, Chet Baker, John Scofield, Nicholas Payton, Tony Bennett, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Eddie Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Vince Guaraldi, Woody Shaw, Donald Harrison, Albert King, Larry Coryell, Michael Wolff, Wallace Roney, Billy Childs, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Chris Potter, Bobby McFerrin, Nat Adderley, Oscar Brown Jr., and Gil Evans and his orchestra. [5]
His album Blueprints of Jazz, Vol. 1 (Talking House Records, 2008) was widely praised by critics and in 2010 was named by DownBeat magazine as one of the best albums of the decade. [7] The album is part of the Blueprints of Jazz series conceived, produced and recorded by Talking House Productions [8] with an aim to expose the histories and current work of important but often lesser-known jazz players who had contributed to the sounds of jazz legends from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Production and recording of the albums was helmed by Talking House producers Marc Weibel and Stephen Smith. [9] [10] [11] [12]
His latest recordings include "Retro Report" with Delbert Bump on Rope-a-Dope label, [13] "Life Cycle" with Mark Sherman, Chase Baird, and Felix Pastorius, also on Rope-a-Dope; [14] Eddie Henderson's "Be Cool" on the Smoke label; [15] Charnett Moffett's "Music from Our Soul" on Motima; [16] and "Indigo Blue: Live at the Iridium" [17] with Christian McBride, Donald Harrison, Rob Dixon, Randy Brecker, and Antonio Farao on Highnote. [18]
Clark endorses Gretsch drums, Istanbul Agop cymbals, Evans drumheads, and Innovative Percussion drumsticks. He has played Remo drumheads, Vic Firth drumsticks, Zildjian cymbals, and Paiste cymbals in the past.
Year | Artist | Title | Label |
1973 | Vince Guaraldi | A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving: Original Soundtrack Recording | Lee Mendelson Film Productions |
1974 | Herbie Hancock | Thrust | Columbia |
1974 | Herbie Hancock | Death Wish | Columbia |
1974 | Betty Davis | They Say I'm Different | Just Sunshine |
1975 | Herbie Hancock | Man-Child | Columbia |
1975 | Herbie Hancock | Flood | CBS/Sony [Japan] |
1975 | The Headhunters | Survival of the Fittest | Arista |
1976 | Eddie Henderson | Heritage | Blue Note |
1976 | Alphonso Johnson | Yesterday's Dreams | Epic |
1977 | The Headhunters | Straight From the Gate | Arista |
1979 | Brand X | Product | Passport |
1980 | Brand X | Do They Hurt? | Passport |
1981 | Jack Walrath Group (with Ricky Ford) | Revenge of the Fat People | Stash |
1983 | Jack Walrath Quintet | Jack Walrath Quintet at Umbria Jazz Festival, Vol. 1 | Red Records |
1983 | Jack Walrath Quintet | Jack Walrath Quintet at Umbria Jazz Festival, Vol. 2 | Red Records |
1984 | Percy Jones Ensemble | Propeller Music | Hot Wire [Germany] |
1989 | Mike Clark Sextet (with Ricky Ford, Jack Walrath) | Give the Drummer Some | Stash |
1989 | Jack Wilkins Trio | Call Him Reckless | MusicMasters/BMG |
1991 | Jack Wilkins | Alien Army | MusicMasters/BMG |
1992 | Mike Clark & Paul Jackson (with Kenny Garrett) | The Funk Stops Here | Tiptoe/Enja |
1992 | Suzanne Pittson | Blues and the Abstract Truth | Vineland |
1993 | Mike Clark Group | Jim Payne's New York Funk! Vol. 1 | Gramavision |
1994 | Marc Puricelli | Melting Point | MusicMasters/BMG |
1995 | Mike Clark | The Headhunter: Master Drummers, Volume Three | Ubiquity |
1995 | Marc Puricelli | Shade | MusicMasters/BMG |
1996 | Dave Ellis | Raven | Monarch |
1997 | Henry "The Skipper" Franklin (with Phil Vieux, Marc Seales) | The Hunter | Resurgent Music |
1998 | The Headhunters | Return of the Headhunters! | Hancock/Verve Forecast |
1999 | John Tank Quartet | Canadian Sunset | TCB Records |
1999 | Mike Clark (with Billy Childs, Chris Potter) | Summertime | JazzKey Music |
2000 | Mike Clark | Actual Proof | Platform |
2001 | Mike Clark / Paul Jackson / Marc Wagnon | Conjunction | Buckyball |
2003 | The Headhunters | Evolution Revolution | Basin Street |
2003 | The Mackrosoft | 1st Mack to the Moon | Mackrosoft |
2003 | The Mackrosoft | Life Imitates Clouds | Mackrosoft |
2003 | George Pajon, Jr. | Fried Plantains | Kufala Recordings |
2004 | Michael Wolff & Impure Thoughts | Dangerous Vision | Artemis |
2004 | Reuben Wilson | Fun House | Savant |
2005 | Rebecca Barry and the Headunters | Rebecca Barry and the Headunters | Rebecca Barry Productions |
2005 | The Mackrosoft | Antonio's Giraffe | Mackrosoft |
2008 | Mike Clark | Blueprints of Jazz, Vol. 1 | Talking House Records |
2006 | Michael Wolff | Love and Destruction | Wrong Records |
2007 | Tony Adamo | Straight Up Deal | UrbanZone |
2007 | Jerry Stucker | It's All a Groove | UrbanZone |
2008 | The Headhunters | On Top: Live in Europe | BHM Productions |
2009 | Mike Clark's Prescription Renewal (with Fred Wesley, Skerik, Robert Walter, Charlie Hunter) | Live at the Fox Theatre | P-Vine [Japan] |
2010 | Mike Clark | Carnival of Soul | Owl Studios |
2011 | The Headhunters | Platinum | Owl Studios |
2013 | Michael Wolff / Mike Clark | Wolff & Clark Expedition | Random Act |
2013 | Jeff Berlin | Low Standards | Random Act |
2013 | Tony Adamo | Miles of Blu | Random Act |
2013 | Chester "CT" Thompson | Mixology | Doodlin' Records |
2015 | Michael Wolff / Mike Clark | Wolff & Clark Expedition 2 | Random Act |
2015 | Mike Clark / Gaetano Letizia / Wilbur Krebs | Froggy & the Toads | Letizia Music |
2015 | Tony Adamo & the New York Crew | Tony Adamo & the New York Crew | UrbanZone |
2015 | Jerry Weldon | On the Move! | Doodlin' Records |
2016 | Dylan Taylor (with Larry Coryell) | One in Mind | Blujazz Productions |
2017 | Charnett Moffett | Music From Our Soul | Motéma Music |
2017 | Mike Clark & Delbert Bump (with Elias Lucero) | Retro Report | Ropeadope |
2018 | Eddie Henderson (with Donald Harrison, Kenny Barron) | Be Cool | Smoke Sessions |
2018 | Venture (Mike Clark, Mark Sherman, Chase Baird, Felix Pastorius) | Life Cycle | Ropeadope |
2018 | Tony Adamo | Was Out Jazz Zone Mad | Ropeadope |
2018 | Rob Dixon Trio (with Charlie Hunter) | Coast to Crossroads | Rob Dixon Productions |
2019 | Rinsse with Mike Clark | Rinsse with Mike Clark | Khyron Label |
2019 | Mike Clark (with Christian McBride, Donald Harrison, Randy Brecker) | Indigo Blue: Live at the Iridium | Ropeadope |
2019 | DSC (Leon Lee Dorsey, Greg Skaff, Mike Clark) | Monk Time | Jazz Avenue 1 |
2020 | Eddie Henderson (with Donald Harrison, Kenny Barron) | Shuffle and Deal | Smoke Sessions |
2020 | Wolff / Clark / Dorsey (Michael Wolff, Mike Clark, Leon Lee Dorsey) | Play Sgt. Pepper | Jazz Avenue 1 |
2021 | Michael Wolff (with Mark Isham, Mike Clark, John B. Williams) | Live @ Vitellos | Sunnyside |
2021 | Leon Lee Dorsey (with Harold Mabern, Mike Clark) | Thank You Mr. Mabern | Jazz Avenue 1 |
2021 | Mike Clark & Michael Zilber | Mike Drop | Sunnyside |
2021 | Leon Lee Dorsey (with Manuel Valera, Mike Clark) | Freedom Jazz Dance | Jazz Avenue 1 |
2022 | Mike Clark & Leon Lee Dorsey (with Mike LeDonne) | Blues on Top | Jazz Avenue 1 |
2022 | The Headhunters | Speakers in the House | Ropeadope |
2023 | Leon Lee Dorsey (with Russell Malone, Mike Clark) | Cantaloupe Island | Jazz Avenue 1 |
2023 | Mike Clark (with Jon Davis, Leon Lee Dorsey) | Plays Herbie Hancock | Sunnyside |
2023 | Mike Clark (with Eddie Henderson, Skerik, Wayne Horvitz, Henry Franklin, Bill Summers) | Kosen Rufu | Wide Hive |
2024 | Wolff / Clark / Dorsey (Michael Wolff, Mike Clark, Leon Lee Dorsey) | A Letter to Bill Evans | Jazz Avenue 1 |
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals, and sometimes other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The drummer typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks or special wire or nylon brushes; and uses their feet to operate hi-hat and bass drum pedals.
Alexander Arthur Van Halen is an American musician who was the drummer and a co-founder of the rock band Van Halen, which was formed in 1972 by Van Halen and his younger brother Eddie under the name "Mammoth" before adding Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth in 1974 and changing their name to Van Halen.
Daniel Edwin Carey is an American musician and songwriter who is the drummer for the progressive metal band Tool. He has also contributed to albums by artists such as Zaum, Green Jellö, Pigface, Skinny Puppy, Adrian Belew, Carole King, Collide, Meat Puppets, Lusk, and the Melvins.
Brooks Wackerman is an American musician. He is the current drummer of heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, which he joined in 2015. His first album with Avenged Sevenfold was The Stage (2016). He was previously the drummer for the punk rock band Bad Religion. Wackerman has also performed, either as a member or a session or touring member, with Blink-182, Bad4Good, Infectious Grooves, Glenn Tipton, Mass Mental, Suicidal Tendencies, The Vandals, Avril Lavigne, Korn, Kidneys, Fear and the Nervous System, Tenacious D, Farmikos, Tom Delonge, and Big Talk. His brothers, Chad Wackerman, and John Wackerman, are also drummers.
Andrew Newmark is an American session drummer who was a member of Sly and the Family Stone and has played with George Harrison, John Lennon, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Carly Simon, Ron Wood and Roxy Music.
Stephen Kendall Gadd is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and most highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1984. Gadd's performances on Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (1976) and "Late in the Evening", Herbie Mann's "Hi-jack" (1975) and Steely Dan's "Aja" (1977) are examples of his style. He has worked with other popular musicians from many genres including Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Eric Clapton and Michel Petrucciani.
Dennis Milton Chambers is an American jazz fusion and funk drummer. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2001.
Future 2 Future is the thirty-eighth album by Herbie Hancock. Hancock reunited with producer Bill Laswell. The two tried to repeat the success of the three previous albums that combine jazz with electronic music.
Rod Morgenstein is an American drummer with rock bands Winger and Dixie Dregs.
Michael Wengren is an American drummer, best known for his work with heavy metal band Disturbed. He is one of the founding members of the band, which was formed in 1994. Wengren is known for his bass drum techniques that have become a staple of Disturbed's music.
Ronald Vannucci Jr. is an American musician, best known for being the drummer for the rock band the Killers. He is also involved in a side project called Big Talk and became the drummer of the Rentals in 2018.
Charnett Moffett was an American jazz bassist and composer. He was an apparent child prodigy. Moffett began playing bass in the family band, touring the Far East in 1975 at the age of eight. In the mid-1980s, he played with Wynton Marsalis and Branford Marsalis.
Steve Jordan is an American musical director, producer, songwriter, and musician. Currently, he is the drummer for the Rolling Stones. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was a member of the bands for the television shows Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman.
Abraham Laboriel Jr. is an American session musician best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of Paul McCartney's touring band since 2001. He is the son of Mexican bass guitarist Abraham Laboriel, nephew of Mexican rock musician Johnny Laboriel, and brother of record producer, songwriter and film composer Mateo Laboriel.
Stanton Moore is an American funk, jazz, and rock drummer from New Orleans. Most widely known as a founding member of Galactic, Moore has also pursued a solo recording career and recorded with bands as diverse as jazz-funk keyboardist Robert Walter and heavy metal act Corrosion of Conformity.
John Blackwell Jr. was an American contemporary R&B, funk, jazz, fusion, and pop drummer, best known for his work with Prince. Later, he was a member of D'Angelo's backing band, The Vanguard.
Dana Hall is an American jazz drummer, percussionist, composer, bandleader, and ethnomusicologist. After spending the first few years of his life in Brooklyn, New York, he relocated with his family to his mother's hometown of Philadelphia. There, Hall was exposed to jazz and soul music at an early age through the recordings of his mother Diane, his uncle Earl Harris, and his large extended family. His family's interest in creative music, and their “open door” policy toward Philadelphia jazz musicians of the era sparked Hall's curiosity, passion and ultimately career in music.
Black Hope is the fifth album by Kenny Garrett, the first that he recorded for Warner Bros. It features Garrett in a quartet with pianist Kenny Kirkland, bassist Charnett Moffett and drummer Brian Blade. Additional musicians include veteran tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson and percussionist Don Alias.
Donald Orlando "Duck" Bailey was an American jazz drummer.
Ty Dennis is an American drummer best known for his work with The Doors revival bands The Doors of the 21st Century, Manzarek-Krieger, and the Robby Krieger Band.