ARTIST
Clarke, Terry
"He was the real deal."-Don Thompson
August 20, 1944—
INSTRUMENT Drums
The only drummer to receive the Order of Canada, Terry Clarke was fifteen years young when he entered the Vancouver jazz scene in the late 1950s. A pupil of Jim Blackley (who tutored many other young Vancouver drummers including Jerry Fuller, Blaine Wikjord, Al Wiertz, and Jim Chivers), Clarke says, "I thought I could play jazz until I met him. He really pointed me in the direction of how to go about listening correctly to music and acquiring all the vocabulary necessary."
"We were young jazz players. We were just thirsty for anything at all."
-Terry Clarke
Terry Clarke's formative years in high school were centered around the Black Spot, "a local club and a great place to be," says Clarke, who remembers the Black Spot as "a forum for us to play" and "a very pivotal piece of history." Just ten minutes away from Clarke's house on Dunbar and West 28th, "It was a co-op. The concept behind the Black Spot was that it was owned and rented by a couple of guys." Clarke describes the Black Spot as "a meeting place" at any time of day or night, whether it was after a drum lesson or at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning on the way home from playing at a high school dance.
"Mingus' music was really what changed everything for me."
-Terry Clarke
"There was really so much going on between the Black Spot, the Cellar, the Inquisition, and concerts coming to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre," Clarke remembers. "[It was] a very exciting community for us in the late-high-school, early college years." The Black Spot ran parallel to the Cellar, which Clarke and his peers recognized as "the major leagues." Clarke vividly recalls being "absolutely stunned" when he heard Charles Mingus' quartet playing at the Cellar. "I just sat there completely blown away. I didn't quite know what to do with my life at that point. I didn't believe four people could make that much music."
Still a high school student, Terry Clarke met saxophonist John Handy in 1964 when he was hired to play a gig with him at the Flat Five. "I remember thinking this is really what jazz is all about, but I can't keep up," says Clarke, who was so inspired by the experience that he "went back to the books and really started working hard." John Handy returned a year later, and this time Clarke had done his homework. "I got as many things with John Handy on it as I could," says Clarke, who then moved to San Francisco and played drums in John Handy's quintet from 1965-67 (along with Vancouver bassist Don Thompson), achieving international acclaim with the LP Live at Monterey, one of the most popular jazz recordings of the 1960s.
As a drummer, Terry Clarke was greatly influenced during his time spent in San Francisco and "having Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Roy Haynes, and Philly Joe Jones all play on my drumset," he says. "As a drummer, I got an incredible education in how the drums are supposed to sound. To see these great players and to be under them and to listen to them night after night was a real liberal education." Clarke remembers one night at Jazz Workshop on North Beach being asked by Elvin Jones, "Do you wanna play?" and sitting in with John Coltrane. "I was uncomfortable with playing free music because I hadn't done enough of it," Clarke admits. "Just out of sheer panic--and I was a pretty cocky young lad--I just grabbed a tempo. I just started playing my own tempo and within a millisecond, Trane was right with my ride cymbal and we just went into a mode and we just started playing. It was like a 747 taking off down the runway; it was an amazing experience and I can feel what it was like to this day."
Clarke returned to Vancouver briefly for six months in 1967 before touring with the US pop group Fifth Dimension for the next three years. "I just wanted to keep playing jazz, and at that point, the Fifth Dimension came along. I wanted to round out playing and learn a little bit more about other aspects of drums." Looking back at the Vancouver scene in the late 1960s, Clarke says, "It was limited. In '67, there was more studio work -- obviously more television, more radio shows." But, he continues, "For jazz musicians, it was starting to really slow down... It was happening around the world because the Beatles had hit... The hippie movement begun and changed the music movement profoundly. Things started to become more fusion-oriented." Clarke moved to Toronto in 1970 and was joined by familiar faces from Vancouver including musicians Jerry Fuller, PJ Perry, Arnie Chycoski, John Capon, and Don Thompson. "It was really a healthy situation," says Clarke, who became Toronto's first-call studio drummer.
"We were young jazz players. We were just thirsty for anything at all."
-Terry Clarke
Terry Clarke's formative years in high school were centered around the Black Spot, "a local club and a great place to be," says Clarke, who remembers the Black Spot as "a forum for us to play" and "a very pivotal piece of history." Just ten minutes away from Clarke's house on Dunbar and West 28th, "It was a co-op. The concept behind the Black Spot was that it was owned and rented by a couple of guys." Clarke describes the Black Spot as "a meeting place" at any time of day or night, whether it was after a drum lesson or at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning on the way home from playing at a high school dance.
"Mingus' music was really what changed everything for me."
-Terry Clarke
"There was really so much going on between the Black Spot, the Cellar, the Inquisition, and concerts coming to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre," Clarke remembers. "[It was] a very exciting community for us in the late-high-school, early college years." The Black Spot ran parallel to the Cellar, which Clarke and his peers recognized as "the major leagues." Clarke vividly recalls being "absolutely stunned" when he heard Charles Mingus' quartet playing at the Cellar. "I just sat there completely blown away. I didn't quite know what to do with my life at that point. I didn't believe four people could make that much music."
Still a high school student, Terry Clarke met saxophonist John Handy in 1964 when he was hired to play a gig with him at the Flat Five. "I remember thinking this is really what jazz is all about, but I can't keep up," says Clarke, who was so inspired by the experience that he "went back to the books and really started working hard." John Handy returned a year later, and this time Clarke had done his homework. "I got as many things with John Handy on it as I could," says Clarke, who then moved to San Francisco and played drums in John Handy's quintet from 1965-67 (along with Vancouver bassist Don Thompson), achieving international acclaim with the LP Live at Monterey, one of the most popular jazz recordings of the 1960s.
As a drummer, Terry Clarke was greatly influenced during his time spent in San Francisco and "having Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Roy Haynes, and Philly Joe Jones all play on my drumset," he says. "As a drummer, I got an incredible education in how the drums are supposed to sound. To see these great players and to be under them and to listen to them night after night was a real liberal education." Clarke remembers one night at Jazz Workshop on North Beach being asked by Elvin Jones, "Do you wanna play?" and sitting in with John Coltrane. "I was uncomfortable with playing free music because I hadn't done enough of it," Clarke admits. "Just out of sheer panic--and I was a pretty cocky young lad--I just grabbed a tempo. I just started playing my own tempo and within a millisecond, Trane was right with my ride cymbal and we just went into a mode and we just started playing. It was like a 747 taking off down the runway; it was an amazing experience and I can feel what it was like to this day."
Clarke returned to Vancouver briefly for six months in 1967 before touring with the US pop group Fifth Dimension for the next three years. "I just wanted to keep playing jazz, and at that point, the Fifth Dimension came along. I wanted to round out playing and learn a little bit more about other aspects of drums." Looking back at the Vancouver scene in the late 1960s, Clarke says, "It was limited. In '67, there was more studio work -- obviously more television, more radio shows." But, he continues, "For jazz musicians, it was starting to really slow down... It was happening around the world because the Beatles had hit... The hippie movement begun and changed the music movement profoundly. Things started to become more fusion-oriented." Clarke moved to Toronto in 1970 and was joined by familiar faces from Vancouver including musicians Jerry Fuller, PJ Perry, Arnie Chycoski, John Capon, and Don Thompson. "It was really a healthy situation," says Clarke, who became Toronto's first-call studio drummer.
PHOTO GALLERY
Click on thumbnail for larger image
VIDEO
Terry Clarke on the Cellar (part 1)
Terry Clarke on the Cellar (part 2)
Terry Clarke on The Black Spot (part 1)
Terry Clarke on The Black Spot (part 2)
Terry Clarke on The Black Spot (part 3)
Terry Clarke on The Flat Five
BIBLIOGRAPHY
JazzStreet Vancouver Interview
Clarke, Terry. Personal Interview with Mark Miller. Toronto, ON. 20 Dec 2005.
JazzStreet Vancouver Interview
Thompson, Don. Personal Interview with Mark Miller. Toronto, ON. 20 Dec 2005.
FOR MORE INFO
Terry Clarke bio on the Canadian Encyclopedia OnlineTerry Clarke bio on TripletRecords.com
