Stanley Clarke
photo: andreas lawen, fotandi · cc by-sa 4.0 ↗Stanley Clarke came up in Philadelphia's classical and jazz scenes before co-founding Chick Corea's Return to Forever in the early 1970s, where his slap-and-pop electric bass technique — inherited in spirit from the harmonic ambition of Coltrane and Davis and the raw physicality of Hendrix — helped invent jazz fusion's vocabulary for the instrument. His mid-'70s solo run, including Stanley Clarke and School Days, turned the electric bass into a lead voice in mainstream jazz for the first time, a template later bassist-singers like Thundercat inherited wholesale. He has remained a prolific solo artist, film composer, and cross-genre collaborator into the 21st century.
Clarke has named Jimi Hendrix among his early idols, saying his generation 'listened to Coltrane and we listened to Miles, but we also listened to Jimi Hendrix,' and has praised Hendrix as a guitarist who invented his own musical language.
listen forThe searing, effects-heavy instrumental sprawl of Hendrix's 'Third Stone from the Sun' and the fast, effects-treated bass runs of Clarke's 'Vulcan Princess' both push an electric instrument into psychedelic, otherworldly territory.
Clarke has said he and his generation of jazz fusion musicians 'grew up' listening to John Coltrane, whose harmonic daring and technical intensity set the bar Clarke aimed for on upright and electric bass alike.
listen forThe rapid-fire, cascading chord changes of Coltrane's 'Giant Steps' and the equally virtuosic, fast-fingered bass runs of Clarke's 'Lopsy Lu' both use blinding technical speed in service of real harmonic movement, not just showing off.
Clarke has called a dinner with Charles Mingus one of the defining moments of his life, and Mingus's combination of formal ambition and raw, physical intensity on the bass is a clear ancestor of Clarke's own genre-crossing bass writing.
listen forThe mournful, blues-soaked melody of Mingus's 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat' and the funkier, more percussive 'Silly Putty' both put the bass in a genuinely vocal, singing role rather than just keeping time.