Jazz trumpeter Clark Terry, the playful soloist and teacher whose seven-decade career spanned a golden era of jazz, has died at 94, his wife announced on Sunday. Unlike some of her kind, Terrie is a celebrity spouse who prefers to operate completely under the radar. Between global performances, Clark continues to share wholeheartedly his jazz expertise and encourage students. Among its prominent musicians were the great alto saxophonist Willie Smith and the arranger Ernie Wilkins, and this was an intense self-improvement period for Terry who said he used to practise all night. Clark Terry, who has died aged 94, was a great jazz trumpet stylist. Victor Goines, James Chirillo, Ted Nash, Vincent Gardner, and Walter Blanding recall the day and the impact that Clark had on jazz.
Clark composed more than two hundred jazz songs, and his books include Let’s Talk Trumpet: From Legit to Jazz, Interpretation of the Jazz Language and Clark Terry’s System of Circular Breathing for Woodwind and Brass Instruments.He recorded with The London Symphony Orchestra, The Dutch Metropole Orchestra, The Duke Ellington Orchestra and The Chicago Jazz Orchestra, at least thirty 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.
All rights reserved. A Visit to Clark Terry. His trumpet sound became full and non-brassy, with often a cry in the note or phrase, rather like a disembodied human voice. Fronting the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Terry retained his old plush elegance on flugelhorn, and his solo on Summertime was sublime.Terry received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2010, and though his public role had diminished, at home he continued to teach young trumpeters from all over the world.
It was Terry who showed Davis the beauty of the mellow flugelhorn, which resulted in its becoming a major jazz instrument.It was also Terry who probably initiated Davis’s interest in boxing and boxers. Combining these with the gifts of a great dramatist, Clark is a master storyteller whose spellbinding musical ‘tales’ leave audiences thrilled and always awaiting more.Following a tour with Harold Arlen’s “Free and Easy” show directed by Quincy Jones in 1960, Clark’s international recognition soared when he accepted an offer from the National Broadcasting Company to become its first African American staff musician. Terry recalled: “Archie used to tell me that if I had stayed in boxing, I would have become a champion, but I stopped to think that I’d have had to meet cats like Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta, and I’m glad I got out of that.”Terry recorded several albums with Ellington. But Terry’s sound was all his own and instantly recognisable – the effortless rhythmic buoyancy, the bluesy phrases and the quicksilver surprises of articulated thought.He was born in St Louis, Missouri, one of 11 children of Mary (nee Scott) and Clark Terry. The history of jazz trumpet pervaded his work: Rex Stewart’s half-valve choked effects, Cootie Williams’s wah-wah mute work, and Dizzy Gillespie’s dazzling speed. https://livingjazzarchives.org/archives/clark-terry-archive Davis said of Terry: “I started to play like him. He and his wife Gwen continue to be closely involved in the creation and maintenance of this Archive.The Living Jazz Archives are housed on the campus of William Paterson University. During the second world war he played with the US navy All-Star Fantasy Swing Band at Great Lakes, Chicago (1942-45), and then worked briefly with The navy band was like a musical finishing school. In St Louis, Terry befriended Davis, who was six years younger, and was trusted by Davis’s father to take the teenage Miles to play at all-night jam sessions.