Search - Kenny Clarke :: More Smiles

Limited edition, 24 Bit, Paper Sleeve, Remastered reissue of the 1969 album. Kenny Clarke (1914-1985) was a jazz drummer and an early innovator of the bebop style of drumming. As the house drummer at Minton's Playhouse in the early 1940's, he participated in the after hours jams that led to the birth of modern jazz. He is credited with creating the modern role of the ride cymbal as the primary timekeeper. Clarke was a founder member of the Modern Jazz Quartet (as the Milt Jackson Quartet) in 1951 and also participated in many recording sessions as house drummer for Savoy Records. From 1956 Clarke lived in France where he regularly worked with visiting American musicians in Paris, in particular forming a working trio with Bud Powell and Pierre Michelot. Later in 1961, with Belgian pianist Francy Boland he formed a regular big band featuring leading European and ex-patriate American musicians. The big band, which had been the idea of Italian producer Gigi Campi, lasted for eleven years. This album is from those recordings. Universal. 2005.