Clark Virgil Terry Jr.[1] (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015)[2] was an Americanswing andbebop trumpeter, a pioneer of theflugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator.
Blending the St. Louis tone with contemporary styles, Terry's years with Basie and Ellington (who secretly recruited Terry away from Basie)[6] in the late 1940s and 1950s established his prominence. During his period with Ellington, he took part in many of the composer's suites and acquired a reputation for his wide range of styles (fromswing tohard bop), technical proficiency, and good humor. Terry influenced musicians includingMiles Davis andQuincy Jones, both of whom acknowledged Terry's influence during the early stages of their careers. Terry had informally taught Davis while they were still in St Louis,[7] and Jones during Terry's frequent visits toSeattle with theCount Basie Sextet.[8]
After leaving Ellington in 1959, Clark's international recognition soared when he accepted an offer from theNational Broadcasting Company (NBC) to become a staff musician. He appeared for ten years onThe Tonight Show as a member ofthe Tonight Show Band until 1972, first led bySkitch Henderson and later byDoc Severinsen, where his unique "mumbling"scat singing led to a hit with "Mumbles".[9] Terry was the first African American to become a regular in a band on a major US television network. He said later: "We had to be models, because I knew we were in a test.... We couldn't have a speck on our trousers. We couldn't have a wrinkle in the clothes. We couldn't have a dirty shirt."[10]
Clark has many relationships in the music world and they all speak highly of him. One of those relationships was Quincy Jones, who wrote the preface to Terry's autobiography. Jones led a band for the musicalFree and Easy in 1959, and Terry left Duke Ellington Orchestra to join them in Belgium.[11]
In the 1970s, Terry concentrated increasingly on the flugelhorn, which he played with a full, ringing tone. In addition to his studio work and teaching at jazz workshops, Terry toured regularly in the 1980s with small groups (including Peterson's) and performed as the leader of his Big B-A-D Band (formed about 1970). After financial difficulties forced him to break up the Big B-A-D Band, he performed with bands such as the Unifour Jazz Ensemble. His humor and command of jazz trumpet styles are apparent in his "dialogues" with himself, on different instruments or on the same instrument, muted and unmuted.
From the 1970s through the 1990s, Terry performed atCarnegie Hall, Town Hall, andLincoln Center, toured with the Newport Jazz All Stars and Jazz at the Philharmonic, and was featured withSkitch Henderson's New York Pops Orchestra. In 1998, Terry recordedGeorge Gershwin's "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" for theRed Hot Organization's compilation albumRed Hot + Rhapsody, a tribute toGeorge Gershwin, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.[15]
In November 1980, he was a headliner along withAnita O'Day,Lionel Hampton andRamsey Lewis during the opening two-week ceremony performances celebrating the short-lived resurgence of the Blue Note Lounge at the Marriott O'Hare Hotel near Chicago.[16]
Prompted early in his career byBilly Taylor, Clark andMilt Hinton bought instruments for and gave instruction to young hopefuls, which planted the seed that became Jazz Mobile in Harlem. This venture tugged at Terry's greatest love: involving youth in the perpetuation of jazz. From 2000 onwards, he hosted Clark Terry Jazz Festivals on land and sea, held his own jazz camps, and appeared in more than fifty jazz festivals on six continents. Terry composed more than two hundred jazz songs and performed for eightU.S. Presidents.[17]
He also had several recordings with major groups including theLondon Symphony Orchestra, the Dutch Metropole Orchestra, and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, hundreds of high school and college ensembles, his own duos, trios, quartets, quintets, sextets, octets, and two big bands: Clark Terry's Big Bad Band and Clark Terry's Young Titans of Jazz.
His autobiography was published in 2011.[4]Taylor Ho Bynum wrote inThe New Yorker that it "captures his gift for storytelling and his wry humor, especially in chronicling his early years on the road, with struggles through segregation and gigs in juke joints and carnivals, all while developing one of most distinctive improvisational voices in music history."[20]
ThePenguin Guide to Jazz Recordings notes that Terry appears on more of its listed recordings than any other artist.[21] According to his own website Terry was "one of the most recorded jazz artists in history and had performed for eight American Presidents."[22] He was adept in the challenging technique ofcircular breathing, by which an instrumentalist can play for extended periods without stopping for breath,[23] and in 1976 he published hisClark Terry's System of Circular Breathing for Woodwind and Brass Instruments.[24]
In April 2014, the documentaryKeep on Keepin' On, followed Terry over four years, to document his mentorship of the 23-year-old blind piano prodigyJustin Kauflin, as Kauflin prepared to compete in an elite, international competition.[25]
On February 13, 2015, it was announced that Terry had enteredhospice care to manage his advanceddiabetes.[27] He died on February 21, 2015.[2][28]
Writing inThe New York Times, Peter Keepnews said Terry "was acclaimed for his impeccable musicianship, loved for his playful spirit and respected for his adaptability. Although his sound on both trumpet and the rounder-toned flugelhorn (which he helped popularize as a jazz instrument) was highly personal and easily identifiable, he managed to fit it snugly into a wide range of musical contexts."[29]
Writing in UK'sThe Daily Telegraph, Martin Chilton said: "Terry was a music educator and had a deep and lasting influence on the course of jazz. Terry became a mentor to generations of jazz players, including Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis and composer-arranger Quincy Jones."[10]
Interviewing Terry in 2005, fellow jazz trumpeterScotty Barnhart said he was "... one of the most incredibly versatile musicians to ever live ... a jazz trumpet master that played with the greatest names in the history of the music ..."[30]
Southeast Missouri State University hosts the Clark Terry/Phi Mu Alpha Jazz Festival, an annual tribute to the musician. The festival began in 1998, and has grown in size every year. The festival showcases outstanding student musicians and guest artists at the university's River Campus.[31][32]
The University of New Hampshire hosts the Clark Terry Jazz Festival every year; it showcases middle- and high-school jazz musicians from all over New England.[33]
^Berman, Eleanor,"The jazz of Queens encompasses music royalty"Archived July 20, 2006, atarchive.today,Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 1, 2006. Accessed October 1, 2009. "When the trolley tour proceeds, Mr. Knight points out the nearby Dorie Miller Houses, a co-op apartment complex in Corona where Clark Terry and Cannonball and Nat Adderley lived and where saxophonist Jimmy Heath still resides."
^Barnhart, Scotty (2005).The World of Jazz Trumpet: A Comprehensive History & Practical Philosophy. Hal Leonard Corporation.ISBN978-0634095276. Chapter 3: Clark Terry, pp. 91-96.
