TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:

That is FRESH AIR. Jazz pianist Sonny Clark grew up in and round Pittsburgh and made his first recordings in LA through the heyday of cool jazz within the Nineteen Fifties. He later moved to New York in 1957, the place the warmer music was extra to his style, and signed with the distinguished Blue Observe label. There’s now a brand new field set assortment of all of his Blue Observe recordings. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead has this evaluation.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “NEWS FOR LULU”)

KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Sonny Clark on his tune “Information For Lulu,” 1957. Clark was his personal man on piano. You possibly can hear what he owed to Horace Silver’s grooving and Bud Powell’s complexity, however Clark had his personal fleet, nimble, fastidiously crafted private model. His fingers are pistons dancing on the keys, making the strings sing out. And he is swinging on a regular basis, even enjoying a single observe. His fluent traces might be virtually glib typically, however bluesy feeling retains him grounded.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK TRIO’S “TWO BASS HIT”)

WHITEHEAD: Sonny Clark with Paul Chambers on bass and “Philly” Joe Jones on drums. The pianist holds his personal at that fast tempo, however medium tempos give Clark extra room to fine-tune his timing and drive on the keys. On a 1959 take of his tune “Royal Flush,” Clark organizes his stealthy solo round a catchy rotating determine that is not a part of the melody, as if he is composing within the second.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “ROYAL FLUSH”)

WHITEHEAD: Sonny Clark recorded 9 periods for Blue Observe between 1957 and ’61. His wonderful rhythm companions embody drummers Louis Hayes, Arthur Taylor and Billy Higgins and bassists Wilbur Ware and Jymie Merritt. On the piano’s altered blues (ph), “Some Clark Bars,” bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Artwork Blakey give the beat virtually a rustic lope, the blues as people music, their bass and drums that match proper right into a rockabilly band.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “SOME CLARK BARS”)

WHITEHEAD: Blue Observe recorded Sonny Clark in trios and in quintets and sextets with wonderful horn gamers. They embody Artwork Farmer, Donald Byrd or Tommy Turrentine on trumpet, trombonist Curtis Fuller, and on saxophones, John Coltrane, Jackie McLean or Clifford Jordan. The scene stealer on Clark’s 1959 LP, “My Conception,” is tenor Hank Mobley, who was having an excellent day within the studio. Clark’s ballad, “My Conception,” faucets Mobley’s romantic aspect.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “MY CONCEPTION”)

WHITEHEAD: By 1961, when Sonny Clark recorded his superb and last Blue Observe album, “Leapin’ And Lopin’,” he’d been spending a little bit time round Thelonious Monk and was feeling his affect. For this take, he employed Monk’s saxophonist Charlie Rouse and a tuneful bassist Monk would rent later, Butch Warren. Monk’s affect is enjoying on Clark’s riffing tune, “Voodoo,” and on his cussed piano beneath Rouse’s solo.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “VOODOO”)

WHITEHEAD: Fourteen months after recording “Leapin’ And Lopin’,” Sonny Clark died of a heroin overdose at 32. A lot music he’d recorded sat within the vaults till the Seventies, when his rediscovery by Japanese jazz followers specifically prompted Blue Observe to regularly launch all his stockpiled recordings. Now we have now in a single place every thing he recorded for the label as chief. The six-CD Sonny Clark roundup, “The Full Blue Observe Classes,” comes from internet warehouse Mosaic Information with professional program notes by Blue Observe authority, Bob Blumenthal. Sonny Clark deserves such first-class therapy. His enjoying brims with the crisp, tuneful creativity that attracts listeners to jazz within the first place.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “SOMETHIN’ SPECIAL”)

MOSLEY: Kevin Whitehead is the writer of the guide “Play The Manner You Really feel: The Important Information To Jazz Tales On Movie.” He reviewed Sonny Clark: The Full Blue Observe Classes on the Mosaic label. Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, Marshall Challenge journalist Maurice Chammah joins us to speak about music packages in jail. He explores how artwork and music may help construct hope and dignity inside jail partitions and helps us perceive the mindset of those that commit crimes and are imprisoned. I hope you may be part of us. To maintain up with what’s on the present and to get highlights of our interviews, comply with us on Instagram at @nprfreshair.

FRESH AIR’s govt producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and critiques are produced and edited by Amy Salit, Phyllis Myers, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Heidi Saman, Therese Madden, Ann Marie Baldonado, Thea Chaloner, Seth Kelley and Susan Nyakundi. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the present. For Terry Gross, I am Tonya Mosley.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONNY CLARK’S “SOMETHIN’ SPECIAL”)

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