Farewell to a Paragon of Positivity
Clark Terry died on Saturday, February 21. The trumpet great was 94, and had been in declining health for several years, though by all accounts his ebullient personality was undimmed by infirmity. Clark was a genuinely beloved figure who won hearts and minds not so much as an icon but through his artistry and the wisdom, encouragement, and patient direction he imparted to countless aspiring musicians, including Miles Davis and Quincy Jones. Clark’s Guestbook and Facebook pages brim with tributes, some from well-known players, most from those recalling how he touched them in brief encounters as a teacher, clinician, and performer.
Terry’s career was full of distinction. He was one of the few musicians to work with both Count Basie and Duke Ellington, in addition to touring with the bands of George Hudson, Charlie Barnet, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, and Quincy Jones. In 1960, he became the first African-American to be hired as a staff musician at NBC, and for the next decade was a standout soloist and dedicated section player with the Tonight Show Band, initially under Skitch Henderson’s direction, then Doc Severinsen’s. Clark was that rarest of jazz artists, a player whose highly individual sound identified him instantly, but one who also loved the selfless section playing that went with being a member of an orchestra.
During his Tonight Show years he invented the “Mumbles Man,” his parody of the beer-swilling, vocal-slurring barrelhouse pianists who played the speakeasies of his native St. Louis in the 1930s. The New York Times obituary by Peter Keepnews noted, “Many listeners knew him best for the vocal numbers with which he peppered his performances, a distinctively joyous brand of scat singing in which noises as well as nonsense syllables took the place of words. It was an off-the-cuff recording of one such song, released in 1964 under the name “Mumbles,” that became his signature song.
“The high spirits of “Mumbles” were characteristic of Mr. Terry’s approach: More than most jazz musicians of his generation, he was unafraid to fool around. His sense of humor manifested itself in his onstage demeanor as well as in his penchant for growls, slurs and speechlike effects.
“Musicians and critics saw beyond the clowning and recognized Mr. Terry’s seriousness of purpose. Stanley Crouch wrote in The Village Voice in 1983 that Mr. Terry ‘stands as tall in the evolution of his horn as anyone who has emerged since 1940’.”
His wife Gwen released this statement. “Our beloved Clark Terry has joined the big band in heaven where he’ll be singing and playing with the angels. He left us peacefully, surrounded by his family, students and friends. Clark has known and played with so many amazing people in his life. He has found great joy in his friendships and his greatest passion was spending time with his students. We will miss him every minute of every day, but he will live on through the beautiful music and positivity that he gave to the world. Clark will live in our hearts forever.”
He’ll live on in Jazz à la Mode too, beginning with a memorial tribute on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Here’s a glimpse of CT in 1950 with Count Basie’s Octet featuring Buddy DeFranco and Wardell Gray. Clark was true to form here, hamming it up with Basie before ripping into a dazzling chorus of the blues.
Over the past few years, I’ve posted six blogs devoted to Clark, including two features on his lively memoir, Clark: The Autobiography of Clark Terry, and a post in December about the visit that Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra paid on him at a hospital in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The latter has attracted several hundred readers to the blog, a testimony to Clark’s popularity and the extraordinary effort that Marsalis & Co. made to express their love and good wishes to Clark in person.
Clark’s funeral will be held on Saturday at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, 132 West 138th Street in Harlem. He’ll be buried at Woodlawn Cemetary in the Bronx. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made in his memory to the Jazz Foundation of America.
Here are links to my posts on the musician whom Duke Ellington often introduced with his highest form of praise, “beyond category.”
Clark Terry: Comic Books and Switchblades
Clark Terry: The Mumbles Man at 92
