Mike Clark (drummer)

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Mike Clark

Mike Clark (* 3. October 1946 in Sacramento as Michael Jeffrey Clark ) is an American jazz - and fusion - drummer who primarily by its membership in Herbie Hancock's band Headhunters became known.

Leen and work

Mike Clark started playing drums when he was five and had lessons from his father; he took him to jazz clubs early on. From the beginning of the 60s he worked as a freelance musician in the San Francisco Bay Area , from 1967 to 1971 in Vince Guardaldi's trio and in 1971 with Woody Shaw .

In the early 1970s he also worked with Mike Nock , Eddie Henderson , Joe Henderson , Mose Allison and with his own formation, which also included Jack Walrath and Paul Jackson. In 1973 he became a member of the fusion band The Headhunters , which was led by Herbie Hancock. He stayed until 1976, but worked with him again in 1976/77. Clark’s drumming work is u. a. heard in Hancock's album Thrust under the title “Actual Proof”.

In 1977/78 he switched to the British fusion band Brand X , in which he took turns on drums with Phil Collins in 1978/80 . In 1978/79 he played in the Bay Area with Eddie Henderson and Julian Priester . In 1980 he moved to New York, where he formed a band with Walrath until 1982. After a Japan tour with Wayne Shorter and Hancock (1982) he played in the Jack Wilkins Trio and worked as a freelance musician; Clark worked during his career a. a. with artists like Chet Baker , Fred Wesley , Les Claypool and Charlie Hunter , 2019 in the Marshall McDonald Jazz Project .

Clark worked as a music teacher at the Drummers Collective in New York.

Discographic notes

  • Give the Drummer Some (Stash Records, 1982, with Jack Walrath , Ricky Ford , Neal Kirkwood, Jack Wilkins, Chip Jackson )
  • Mike Clark / Paul Jackson: The Funk Stops Here ( Enja , 1992)
  • Mike Clark and friends: Jim Payne's New York Funk ( Gramavision , 1994)
  • Master Drummers: Volume Three (Ubiquity, 1995)
  • Summertime (Jazz Key Music, 1999)
  • Actual Proof (Platform Records, 2000)
  • Mike Clark, Paul Jackson / Marc Wagnon: Conjunction (Buckyball, 2002)
  • Blueprints of Jazz: Vol. 1 (Talking House Records, 2009)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Clark, Mike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Clark, Michael Jeffrey (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz and fusion drummer
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Sacramento