Mike Clark

Drummer Mike Clark earned renown through his innovative contributions to Herbie Hancock’s 1970s funk-jazz ensemble the Headhunters, eventually assuming leadership of the band once Hancock moved on to independent ventures. Beyond funk and R&B, Clark’s own releases—1989’s Give the Drummer Some, 1992’s The Funk Stops Here, and 2000’s Actual Proof—position him as a perceptive contemporary jazz percussionist and writer. Bebop and organ jazz elements shaped 2010’s Carnival of Soul, whereas the 2023 avant-garde-oriented Kosen Rufu reunited him with two former Hancock bandmates, trumpeter Eddie Henderson and percussionist Bill Summers.

Born October 3, 1946, in Sacramento, California, Clark launched his professional path at age six in New Orleans, immersing himself in blues, soul, and jazz. During his formative years he divided time between Texas and both Northern and Southern California, chiefly the San Francisco Bay Area, where he gained visibility through performances with Vince Guaraldi on the iconic Peanuts television themes. He also supplied drums for singer Betty Davis’ unconventional 1974 album They Say I'm Different. Clark and pioneering electric bassist Paul Jackson maintained a partnership until both joined the Headhunters, tracking Thrust, Flood, and Man-Child alongside Hancock for Columbia and issuing further Headhunters titles on Arista Records.

Clark inaugurated his career as a bandleader with the 1989 Stash release Give the Drummer Some, supported by such figures as Jack Wilkins, Jack Walrath, and Ricky Ford. Over the ensuing fifteen years he moved across labels, delivering The Funk Stops Here on Enja in 1991, appearing on Master Drummers, Vol. 3 for Ubiquity, teaming with Jackson and vibraphonist Marc Wagnon for the 2001 Buckyball recording Conjunction, and issuing Summertime on JazzKey in 2003 plus the acclaimed 2008 set Blueprints of Jazz, Vol. 1 on Talking House Records. Throughout this period he reactivated the Headhunters for both studio work and live dates, while collaborating with Eddie Henderson, Shawn Phillips, Alphonso Johnson, Brian Auger, Christian McBride, Patrice Rushen, Christian Scott, Robert Hurst, and numerous additional artists.

In 2010 Clark issued Carnival of Soul, enlisting organists Jerry Z and Jeff Pittson together with guitarist Rez Abbasi. The live recording Indigo Blue: Live at the Iridium surfaced in 2019, followed a year later by a trio album of Beatles interpretations featuring pianist Michael Wolff and bassist Leon Lee Dorsey. Dorsey also participated in 2021’s Freedom Jazz Dance with pianist Manuel Valera. 2023 yielded both a collection of Herbie Hancock material and the driving Kosen Rufu, again featuring trumpeter Eddie Henderson and percussionist Bill Summers, two additional Hancock alumni.