Michael Jeffrey Clark (born October 3, 1946) is an American drummer. He gained worldwide recognition as one of America's foremost jazz and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

drummers while playing with

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

in the early 1970s. His incisive playing on Hancock's song "Actual Proof" off of the 1974 album ''

Thrust Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that ...

'' garnered him an international cult following and influenced generations of drummers throughout the world.

Upbringing

Clark was born in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. He traveled around the country with his father, a drummer himself and a union man for the railroad. His dad had a great appreciation for jazz and blues music, and Mike absorbed the music of America while riding the rails. He credits this exposure as forming the foundation for his ability to synthesize many different regional styles. From age 4, he was a prodigy, sitting in – and getting "house"- with bands in Texas and New Orleans. By the time he reached his early twenties he was known as one of the founders of the distinctive East Bay Sound coming out of Oakland, California.

Career

Mike has performed with such well-known jazz greats as Herbie Hancock,

Christian McBride Christian McBride (born May 31, 1972) is an American jazz bassist, composer and arranger. He has appeared on more than 400 recordings as a sideman, and is a nine-time Grammy Award winner. McBride has performed and recorded with a number of jaz ...

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

John Scofield John Scofield (born December 26, 1951) is an American guitarist and composer. His music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention as part of the band of Miles Davis; he ...

Nicholas Payton Nicholas Payton (born September 26, 1973) is an American trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist. A Grammy Award winner, he is from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is also a writer who comments on subjects including music, race, politics, and life i ...

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and very occasional flute player. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day an ...

, Eddie Henderson,

Bobby Hutcherson Robert Hutcherson (January 27, 1941 – August 15, 2016) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. "Little B's Poem", from the 1966 Blue Note Records, Blue Note album ''Components (album), Components'', is one of his best-known composi ...

Vince Guaraldi Vincent Anthony Guaraldi (; birth name, né Dellaglio, July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976) was an American jazz pianist best known for composing music for animated television adaptations of the ''Peanuts'' comic strip. His compositions for this s ...

Woody Shaw Woody Herman Shaw Jr. (December 24, 1944 – May 10, 1989) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, arranger, band leader, and educator. Shaw is widely known as one of the 20th century's most important and influentia ...

, Donald Harrison,

Albert King Albert King ( Nelson; April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps best known for his popular and ...

Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist, widely considered the "godfather of fusion". Alongside Gábor Szabó, he was a pioneer in melding jazz, country and rock ...

, Michael Wolff,

Wallace Roney Wallace Roney (May 25, 1960 – March 31, 2020) was an American jazz ( hard bop and post-bop) trumpeter. He won one Grammy award and was nominated twice. Roney took lessons from Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie and studied with Miles Davis from ...

Billy Childs William Edward Childs (born March 8, 1957) is an American composer, jazz pianist, arranger and conductor from Los Angeles, California, United States. Early life When he was 16, Childs attended the Community School of the Performing Arts sponsored ...

Dr. Lonnie Smith Lonnie Smith (July 3, 1942 – September 28, 2021), styled Dr. Lonnie Smith, was an American jazz Hammond B3 organist who was a member of the George Benson quartet in the 1960s. He recorded albums with saxophonist Lou Donaldson for Blue Note ...

, Chris Potter,

Bobby McFerrin Robert Keith McFerrin Jr. (born March 11, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, and conductor (music), conductor. His Vocal pedagogy, vocal techniques include singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in Pitch (music), pitch—fo ...

Nat Adderley Nathaniel Carlyle Adderley (November 25, 1931 – January 2, 2000) was an American jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It ...

, Oscar Brown Jr., and

Gil Evans Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian Americans, Canadian–American jazz pianist, Music arranger, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators i ...

and his orchestra. His album Blueprints of Jazz, Vol. 1 (

Talking House Records Talking or Talkin' may refer to: * Speech, the product of the action of ''to talk'' * Communication by spoken words; conversation or discussion Songs * "Talking" (A Flock of Seagulls song), 1983 * "Talking" (The Rifles song), 2007 * " Talking / ...

, 2008) was widely praised by critics and in 2010 was named by

DownBeat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

magazine as one of the best albums of the decade. The album is part of the ''Blueprints of Jazz'' series conceived, produced and recorded by

Talking House Productions Talking or Talkin' may refer to: * Speech, the product of the action of ''to talk'' * Communication by spoken words; conversation or discussion Songs * "Talking" (A Flock of Seagulls song), 1983 * "Talking" (The Rifles song), 2007 * "Talking / ...

with an aim to expose the histories and current work of important but often lesser-known jazz players who had contributed to the sounds of jazz legends from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Production and recording of the albums was helmed by Talking House producers Marc Weibel and Stephen Smith. His latest recordings include "Retro Report" with Delbert Bump on Rope-a-Dope label, "Life Cycle" with Mark Sherman, Chase Baird, and Felix Pastorius, also on Rope-a-Dope; Eddie Henderson's "Be Cool" on the Smoke label; Charnett Moffett's "Music from Our Soul" on Motima; and "Indigo Blue: Live at the Iridium" with

, Donald Harrison, Rob Dixon,

Randy Brecker Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock music, rock, and R&B. Early life Brecker was ...

, and Antonio Farao on Highnote.

Equipment

Clark endorses

Gretsch Gretsch is an American company that manufactures and markets musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Fri ...

drums, Istanbul Agop cymbals, Evans drumheads, and Innovative Percussion drumsticks. He has played

Remo Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumheads, drums, and drum hardware, hardware, and various percussio ...

drumheads,

Vic Firth Everett Joseph "Vic" Firth (June 2, 1930 – July 26, 2015) was an American musician and the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a company that makes percussion sticks and mallets. He was also known for his association ...

drumsticks,

Zildjian The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian (), is a musical instrument manufacturer specializing in cymbals and other percussion instruments. Founded by the ethnic Armenian Zildjian family in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire, the com ...

cymbals, and

Paiste Paiste (English pronunciation: , ) is a Switzerland, Swiss musical instrument manufacturing company. It is the world's third largest manufacturer of cymbals, gongs, and metal percussion. is an Estonian language, Estonian and Finnish language, ...

cymbals in the past.

Discography

References

External links

Official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Mike 1946 births Living people American funk drummers American jazz drummers Owl Studios artists 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Brand X members The Headhunters members Drummers from California