Buddy Clark

Buddy Clark (* 10. July 1929 in Kenosha , Wisconsin as Walter Clark Jr. , † 8. June 1999 in Mission Hills , California ) was an American jazz - bassist and arranger .

Clark, who first learned the piano and trombone, turned to the double bass in high school . He studied at the Chicago Music College in 1948/49 , where he played in the groups of Bud Freeman and Bill Russo in the early 1950s ; from 1951 to 1954 he toured with Tex Beneke . In 1954 he moved to Los Angeles , worked at Les Brown , with whom he went on tour in 1955/56, as well as Conte Candoli ( The Five , 1955), Sonny Criss (1956), Red Norvo , Dave Pell and Joanne Grauer . In 1958 he performed with Med Flory at the Monterey Jazz Festival ; the following year he went on a European tour with Jimmy Giuffre . In the early 1960s he was a member of the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band ; in the 60s he was otherwise mostly active as a studio musician; he also accompanied the singer Peggy Lee . In the early 1970s he founded the Supersax formation with Med Flory ; Clark provided the arrangements for Charlie Parker titles such as “Parker's Mood”, “ Lover Man ”, “Ko-Ko” and Dizzy Gillespie's “ A Night in Tunisia ”. At the end of 1975 he fell out with Flory and left the band. Buddy Clark has also worked on recordings for Terry Gibbs , Johnny Hodges , Barney Kessel , Herbie Mann , Gerry Mulligan , Lennie Niehaus , Anita O'Day and Sonny Stitt . After leaving Supersax , Clark largely withdrew from the music scene.

The bassist should not be confused with the American singer of the same name, who was popular in the 1940s.

literature

• Bielefeld catalog 1988 & 2002
• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .
• Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .

Web links

• Short biography
• Buddy Clark at Allmusic (English)