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Daggerboard: The Skipper and Mike Clark
by Jack Bowers
The rhythm section--more specifically, bassist Henry “The Skipper" Franklin and drummer Mike Clark--is front and center on the fourth recording by San Francisco Bay-area Daggerboard, the brainchild of trumpeter Erik Jekabson and percussionist Gregory Howe, who have enlisted a large array of supporting actors to help refine and sharpen their unique musical vision. That includes a four-member string section on three of the album's ten numbers, two of which ("Tanzanian Skies," the closing “Ruaha Daybreak") were written by ...
Continue ReadingMike Clark and Phil Haynes: Keep Beating The Drum(s)
by Doug Collette
A great drummer is the driving force of any band's performances, whether on stage or in the studio. So, is it any surprise that jazz ensembles led by drummers invariably evince strong collective personalities, even if the members of those groups are as self-motivated and inner-directed as their leader(s)? Each of these bands, led by Mike Clark and Phil Haynes, exhibit a distinct persona, each reflecting the salient virtues of their leaders: a predilection for adventure, a tangible humility, and ...
Continue ReadingMike Clark: Itai Doshin
by Jack Bowers
Itai Doshin is a Buddhist term that, translated from Japanese, refers to a state of harmony wherein individuals share a common goal and purpose, or “many in body, one in mind." That is the level California-based drum legend Mike Clark's quintet strives for on Clark's second album on Gregory Howe's Wide Hive label. Is the mission accomplished? That is for the listener to decide. What can be said is that everyone gives it his (or her) best ...
Continue ReadingMike Clark: Standard Deviations
by Scott Gudell
The goal of Mike and Mike--as in Mike Clark on drums and Mike Zilber on saxophone--the co-leaders on Standard Deviations--was to take eight jazz and pop standards (with one Zilber original) and reinterpret them by adding their 21th century interpretation to them (with the help of Jon Davis on piano and Alex Claffy on bass). Over the course of nearly an hour, the success ratio of the quartet is high. Clark first appeared on record in the 1970s, ...
Continue ReadingMike Clark: Standard Deviations
by Paul Rauch
Bringing new life to jazz standards is a longtime tradition in jazz, whether it be on the bandstand or in the studio. With their latest Sunnyside recording, Standard Deviations, the iconic drummer Mike Clark and Los Angeles-based tenor saxophonist Michael Zilber venture there once again, following Mike Drop, their 2021 Sunnyside release. The result is a swinging session of jazz pearls in quartet mode, with pianist Joe Davis and bassist Alex Claffey joining in the fun. Clark, for ...
Continue ReadingVince Guaraldi: It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!
by Joshua Weiner
The series of complete Peanuts television special soundtracks put out by Lee Mendelson Film Productions continues to thrill fans of Vince Guaraldi, Charlie Brown, Snoopy and all the gang. After the highly successful Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving animated specials, the stage was set for 1974's It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! Recorded over two days at Wally Heider Studios in Guaraldi's hometown of San Francisco, the soundtrack--resurrected for the first time from the 16-track master tape and freshly mixed--features the ...
Continue ReadingThe Headhunters: The Stunt Man
by Doug Collette
With the half-century anniversaries of Herbie Hancock's work with the Headhunters having passed in roughly the last year--Head Hunters (Columbia, 1973) and Thrust (Columbia, 1974)--it is appropriate the current configuration of the group has continued regular activity. In fact, under the fitting tutelage of drummer Mike Clark and percussionist Bill Summers, the band has issued two albums of new material in this span of time. Speakers in the House (Ropeadope, 2022) is an album of dashing panache and ...
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