If leading jazz musicians were among the most beautiful creative "flowers" ever produced by America, then heroin can be likened to a deadly fungus that wiped out a large number of them. Today, it's hard to figure how so much heroin was able to enter the United States after World War II and why its import wasn't stopped more aggressively by the FBI. The problem continues today.
Heroin has a long history that dates back centuries. In the U.S., the drug was legal and marketed by the Bayer pharmaceutical company in 1898 to ease cough-inducing illnesses. By 1924, New York City's government estimated that 94% of the crimes being committed were by heroin addicts.
In the 1920s, the federal government cracked down on its use, which shifted raw-heroin production to hidden labs in China. The unrefined product was then shipped to Marseilles, France, where it was refined and trafficked by organized crime syndicates in Europe and in Northeastern cities in the U.S.
During World War II, supplies dried up due to tightened shipping security. After the war, organized crime more aggressively resumed the import of heroin to Eastern ports and distributed the illegal narcotic to major cities throughout the country through their criminal networks. Easy prey for these mobsters were jazz musicians, who worked under creative pressure at night and found that heroin eased anxiety and depression. If you could turn one top musician into an addict, you'd have dozens of his acolytes as customers in short order.
One of these many jazz "flowers" who became a heroin addict with lethal consequences was pianist Sonny Clark. Born in Herminie, Pa, near Pittsburgh, Clark was the youngest of eight children. At age 12, he moved to Pittsburgh, presumably with his mother or to live with relatives, since his father, a coal miner, had died of tuberculosis just weeks after Clark was born. [Photo above of Sonny Clark by Francis Wolff (c)Mosaic Images/CTSImages]
A quick study, Clark picked up the piano by listening to artists who played at a local hotel. He also listened to records, particularly those by Bud Powell and later Horace Silver. He visited an aunt in Los Angeles in 1951 when he was 20 and remained to play with tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray. He gigged at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, and his first recording was on a Teddy Charles album called West Coasters in 1953.
Clark then played and recorded with Art Pepper, Jimmy Raney, Buddy DeFranco, Billie Holiday, Cal Tjader, Serge Chaloff, Howard Rumsey, Sonny Criss, Stan Levey, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins and Hank Mobley. Then in 1957 he began recording as a solo artist for Blue Note.
From the start, there was an elegance and grace to Clark's playing that transcended Powell, especially in trio settings, and there was a softer and more beckoning funk-tinged keyboard touch than Silver's. Ultimately Clark had his own sound as a leader and sideman. During his leadership period, Clark continued to appear on albums led by top jazz artists.
Now Mosaic has released The Complete Sonny Clark Blue Note Sessions—a six-CD box and a lush booklet with excellent liner notes by Bob Blumenthal. The albums in the set include Dial "S" for Sonny, Sonny's Crib, Sonny Clark Trio, Cool Struttin', Leapin' and Lopin', Sonny Clark Quintets, Blues in the Night, My Conception and The Art of the Trio.
Most notable about this box is the sterling sound of the music. The tracks were mastered from hi-res files of the original analog masters by Andrew Meyer and Nancy Conforti at New York's Swan Studios. In addition, 24-bit technology was used throughout the box's production.
The result is a high-gloss warmth and clarity. Clark's piano is in full relief—the swinging bop lines, the feathery punch of his notes and the dance-like style of his fluid ideas. You also get to hear the bass and drums on trio sessions with a realistic vibrancy.
It should be noted that four of the albums weren't released until after Clark's death. These include Sonny Clark Quintets (1976), Blues in the Night (1979), My Conception (1979) and The Art of the Trio (1980). Which means Clark only had five leadership albums for Blue Note out at the time of his passing in 1963.
The new box's re-mastered sound gives fresh import to Clark's piano, especially on the trio sessions. On the horn albums, there's a lustrous veneer that allows horn players such as John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, Curtis Fuller, Hank Mobley, Art Farmer, Charlie Rouse, Ike Quebec and Tommy Turrentine to stand out in collaboration with Clark's piano.
If you purchase this box and choose to import the music and listen back on Apple Music, you will need to re-order the tracks a bit if you want to hear them in chronological order. For all of the material to fit on the six CDs, Mosaic had to pack them to fit, and some of the material is out of order. So after you import, go to Dial "S" for Sonny at Wiki and move forward in the album chronology, adding the album names and recording dates. Then reshuffle the deck where needed if you want them in order.
This box is yet another wonderful historical package by Mosaic that is rewarding both for the pristine sound of the music and the history laid out in the booklet. Now it's even easier to understand what Bill Evans and so many other jazz greats heard in Sonny Clark and what caused them to marvel at his playing. Such a shame that a heroin overdose led to a heart attack in January 1963 that ended his life at age 31. Imagine if we had another 15 albums or more by Clark. So tragic and sad.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find The Complete Sonny Clark Blue Note Sessions (Mosaic) here.
Note that Mosaic quickly sold out of its first run and the box won't be restocked until October.
JazzWax clips: Here's Sonny's Mood...
Here's Royal Flush...
Here's Dancing in the Dark...