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Kenny Clarke

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Kenny Clarke

W. Punt for Anefo · CC0

Born	1914, Harlem → Paris
Died	1985
Genre	Bebop, Cool Jazz and modal jazz, Hard bop
Studio albums	23 (1954–2010)
Notable works	Bohemia After Dark, Telefunken Blues, The Golden Eight, Pieces of Time
In School of Rock	Mixtape 5^NL, Mixtape 9^NL

Drummer Kenny Clarke, from Pittsburgh, led the house band of Minton's Playhouse in Harlem in the early 1940s. He moved the beat from the bass drum to the ride cymbal and used the bass drum and the snare drum for unexpected accents, which musicians called 'bombs'. That earned him the nickname 'Klook'. That became the basis of modern jazz drumming. He played with Dizzy Gillespie and from 1952 to 1955 was the first drummer of the Modern Jazz Quartet. In 1956 he settled in Paris, where he played with European and American musicians and led a big band with the Belgian pianist Francy Boland. He died in 1985 near Paris.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the cymbal ticking steadily on, with the unexpected hits of the bass drum beneath it.

Bohemia After Dark · Kenny Clarke, 1955
A Night in Tunisia · Dexter Gordon (met Bud Powell, Pierre Michelot & Kenny Clarke), 1963
Airegin · Miles Davis (met Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, Kenny Clarke & Percy Heath), 1954