www.montereycountynow.com september 26-october 2, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 19 Stanley Clarke has been making jazz history for decades. The Philadelphia-born bassist paid his dues with the likes of Pharoah Sanders, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon and Art Blakey—and was originally planning a classical career. But the music gods had other things in mind. Recruited by Chick Corea to join the seminal fusion band Return to Forever, he joined the first iteration of the band with Corea, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and Joe Farrell, creating a sound that connected with younger audiences in an otherwise moribund time on the jazz scene. Since then, the four-time Grammy winner and National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master has brought his instrument out from the rhythm section’s shadows. And he has embraced crossover collaborations with Ron Wood and the New Barbarians, Jeff Beck (who covered Clarke’s tune “Power”), Paul McCartney, Stewart Copeland of The Police and the late keyboardist George Duke. In homage to his extraordinary career, he’s being awarded the 15th Annual Jazz Legends honor at a fundraising gala on Sept. 26 at the Monterey Conference Center. Monterey Jazz Festival Artistic Director Darin Atwater (see story, p. 40), describes Clarke’s work as a “protean” mix of the “ancient and modern.” Clarke takes the Jimmy Lyons Stage Saturday night—marking his first appearance here as a band leader—with his latest group, N•4EVER (in homage to the Corea band) with a team of young musicians: pianist/ keyboard player Beka Gochiashvili, drummer Jeremiah Collier and saxophonist Emilio Modeste. They are led, of course, by Clarke on acoustic and electric guitar. “These guys are like geniuses,” Clarke says. “I started out with the idea of getting together to do something after Chick passed, but it’s very difficult music. I needed specific guys to work with.” Gochiashvili, in particular, has a backstory worthy of a made-for-television movie. “He’s from the country of Georgia and was a child prodigy,” Clarke says. “By the time he was 11 or 12, he was playing in a club over there, and [former Secretary of State] Condi Rice, who was also a classical pianist, heard him when she was in the area negotiating with the Russians to try to keep them from bombing Ukraine. It was very emotional—here’s this kid who might be in danger—so she called his parents, took him out of the country and helped him enroll in Juilliard, which he went through like it was nothing. “Chick hired him when he was 16— he had to have a guardian, which was very expensive, but we knew he was going to be a great musician.” Clarke accompanied Gochiashvili on his first album, produced by former Return to Forever drummer Lenny White. Corea played a critical role in Clarke’s early career, during a time when it was still groundbreaking for musicians of color to perform alongside white musicians. “I was preparing to audition for the Philadelphia Orchestra, where I would be the first—I don’t know the word they would call it in those days, ‘Negro’ or ‘colored’ member,” Clarke recalls. “I mentioned it to Chick, who said, ‘Man, you don’t want to do that. There’s Bach and Beethoven, but we can do Corea and Clarke.’ I liked the ring of that.” Four Grammys, countless session work and multiple film and television scores later, he’s never looked back. Although the fusion sound was decried by jazz purists at the time, it has since been widely accepted. “People get offended, but I’ve never rejected being called a jazz musician,” Clarke says. “I’ve worked in country bands, acid rock, but deep in my heart, I’m still a bass player.” As far as crossover, he’s been the one sought after by bands like the Rolling Stones spinoff band the New Barbarians, not the other way around. “I don’t know how they found me, but I was on a beach in Florida when a guy came up and said, ‘Someone wants to speak to you, his name is Ronnie Wood,’” Clarke recalls, chuckling. “He had a heavy English accent and asked, ‘Do you know any Chuck Berry tunes?’” When Clarke, who had played with Berry, responded affirmatively, they flew him to New York to prep for a 20-gig tour, including a stop in Toronto opening for the Stones at a charity concert required to meet the terms of Keith Richards’ sentence for a heroin bust. “I remember sitting with Mick Jagger and he was running down all my records, saying he really liked the third track on one,” Clarke says. “He was really enamored with Sonny Rollins. I don’t think doing a genre of music prevents you from liking something else.” Clarke’s personal role model is Ron Carter, the most recorded jazz bassist in history. “He was the guy who created a future for people to move forward in,” Clarke says. “And underpinning his musical abilities, he was always prepared. That’s what I’ve tried to do, whether I was playing with Aretha [Franklin] or Donnie Hathaway.” Clarke respects the jazz tradition and the inevitable critiques. “Jazz critics try to institutionalize jazz, which is understandable,” he says. “It’s the difference between a Rolls Royce and a Ford. But when you talk about Miles Davis and Coltrane, that’s beyond Rolls Royce. People wondered why Miles was playing with kids with electric instruments, and suspected it had to do with money. But I don’t think it was calculative. It has to do with who you’re playing with. On Bitches Brew, Miles wanted to do something new. And the new guys didn’t want to play like [Davis’ cool jazz sideman] Paul Chambers—they might want to play like Michael Henderson or Stanley Clarke.” At 73, Stanley Clarke is just beginning. Forever starts now. Monterey Jazz Festival takes place Friday, Sept. 27-Sunday, Sept. 29 at the Monterey County Fair and Event Center, 2004 Fairground Road, Monterey. $60- $199/single day; $195-$430/three-day pass. Stanley Clarke’s N•4EVER plays at 8:15pm Saturday, Sept. 28 on the Jimmy Lyons Stage. For tickets and schedule, visit montereyjazzfestival.org. Jazz legend Stanley Clarke crosses boundaries and genres in his decades-long career. By Paul Wilner All About The Bass Matt Lorentzen Iconic jazz bassist Stanley Clarke brings his group N•4EVER to the Monterey Jazz Festival. It’s his first appearance at the festival as a bandleader. He’s recently been putting finishing touches on the band’s forthcoming album, Last Train to Sanity.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==