Sonny Clark

Just as Fats Navarro and Charlie Parker had done earlier, Sonny Clark lived only briefly yet played with unrelenting musical fire. Though Bud Powell exerted a strong early pull, Clark forged his own dense, hard-swinging approach to harmony, one marked by subtle shadings and precise detail. Widely viewed as the definitive hard-bop pianist, he received little recognition before his death in 1963 at thirty-one, even though he appears never to have made a substandard session whether leading or accompanying others. He is chiefly remembered for the seven Blue Note albums he recorded alongside such figures as John Coltrane, Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Art Taylor, Paul Chambers, Wilbur Ware, Philly Joe Jones, and additional notables; in truth his first dates took place with Teddy Charles and Wardell Gray, after which he moved on to Buddy DeFranco’s group. A Mosaic box set preserves that entire association with the renowned clarinetist, though the collection is now out of print. Before stepping out as a leader in 1957, Clark also supported Dinah Washington, Serge Chaloff, and Sonny Criss. Cool Struttin’ stands as his most celebrated album, yet every Blue Note date he helmed is regarded as a classic, among them his last, Sonny’s Crib, which features John Coltrane. Commercial rewards never materialized, but demand for his services as a sideman remained steady; he appears on dozens of sessions produced by Alfred Lion, including Tina Brooks’ Minor Move. Thanks to Lion’s documentation, Clark has since earned greater critical, artistic, and popular recognition than he enjoyed during his lifetime.