Clark Terry: The Ellington Years And Beyond (1952-60)

Clark Terry. Photo courtesy of Riverside

"Nobody ever says a bad word about Clark Terry." -- Richard Cook

I just saw the documentary Keep On Keepin' On (2014), about Clark Terry and his messianic belief in jazz education, thus I'm in the mood for nothing but CT. (Hopefully, soon I will be writing a note on the film for this blog.) Here, what I've got to offer is a compilation of various solos CT played during his decade-long stint with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.

"Duke was endowed with a supernatural magic," remembers Clark Terry, "he could cuss you out and rarely use a cuss word. He'd chastise you from the piano by hitting a discord and everybody knew what was going on. A frequent utterance of his was simply 'Aaaaaahhhhh!' It might mean something like, 'You're not paying attention! You're not listening!' Or it might mean that what you played was beautiful to him."

With exception of one track, everything you'll hear is recorded live in concert, mostly with non-professional tools and less than skillful engineers. As Clark Terry would say, these tracks are surveying a life on the road: "East coast to west coast and all in between - clubs, ballrooms, and theaters. The Beehive,  Blackhawk, Blue Note, DeLisa, Regal, Apollo, Trianon, Savoy, and many others."

There are various takes on How High the Moon which was Terry's solo feature throughout a good part of the 1950s. And then there is a surprisingly bop-ish arrangement of that tune from a Birdland session in November, 1952.

Perdido is another tune with which Terry was featured in Ellington's band. They are by far the most exciting takes of this old tune on Ellington's recorded catalog. It's like "magic" to see how Ellington manages to bring a new musical angle to the same song played over the course of the years. For that matter, one only has to go back, or forward, to compare other interpretation of the same song and see how the master tailor is re-fitting the old suit to Clark Terry's sound and musical (or even personal) character.

The voice heard on this tape is of course of Mr David W. Niven's, giving some useful information about Terry. He is responsible for this compilation. However, be aware that not all the dates and facts given are accurate. For a more reliable discography of the sessions see below.

All sessions are under Duke Ellington's leadership unless noted.

Clark Terry, Willie Cook (tp) Ray Nance (tp,vcl) Cat Anderson (tp) Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, Juan Tizol (tb) Jimmy Hamilton (cl,ts) Russell Procope (as,ss,cl) Willie Smith (as) Paul Gonsalves (ts) Harry Carney (bar,cl,b-cl) Duke Ellington (p,narrator) Wendell Marshall (b) Louie Bellson (d) Jimmy Grissom, Betty Roche (vcl)
Metropolitan Opera House, New York, January 5, 1952

Basin Street Blues

Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Willie Cook, Ray Nance (tp) Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, Juan Tizol (tb) Jimmy Hamilton (cl,ts) Russell Procope (as,cl) Willie Smith (as) Paul Gonsalves (ts) Harry Carney (bar,cl,b-cl) Duke Ellington (p) Wendell Marshall (b) Louie Bellson (d)
Crystal Inn, Salem, Ore., March 22, 1952


Don’t worry ’bout me

Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Willie Cook, Ray Nance (tp) Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, Juan Tizol (tb) Jimmy Hamilton (cl,ts) Russell Procope (as,cl) Willie Smith (as) Paul Gonsalves (ts) Harry Carney (bar,cl,b-cl) Duke Ellington (p) Wendell Marshall (b) Louie Bellson (d)
Seattle, Washington, March 25, 1952

Perdido

Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Willie Cook, Ray Nance (tp) Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, Juan Tizol (tb) Jimmy Hamilton (cl,ts) Russell Procope (as,cl) Willie Smith (as) Paul Gonsalves (ts) Harry Carney (bar,cl,b-cl) Duke Ellington (p) Wendell Marshall (b) Louie Bellson (d)
unidentified location, March, 1952

Bensonality

Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Willie Cook, Ray Nance (tp)  Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, Juan Tizol (tb) Jimmy Hamilton (cl,ts) Russell Procope (as,cl) Hilton Jefferson (as) Paul Gonsalves (ts) Harry Carney (bar,cl,b-cl) Duke Ellington (p) Wendell Marshall (b) Louie Bellson (d)
The Armory, Yakima, Washington, April 29, 1952

Felanges

Clark Terry, Cat Anderson, Willie Cook, Ray Nance (tp) Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, Juan Tizol (tb) Jimmy Hamilton (cl,ts) Russell Procope (as,cl) Hilton Jefferson, Paul Gonsalves (ts) Harry Carney (bar) Duke Ellington (p) Wendell Marshall (b) Louie Bellson (d)
Blue Note, Chicago, Illinois, August 6, 1952

How high the moon

Cat Anderson, Willie Cook, Ray Nance, Clark Terry (tp) Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman (tb) Juan Tizol (vtb) Jimmy Hamilton (cl,ts) Hilton Jefferson (as) Russell Procope (as, cl) Paul Gonsalves (ts) Harry Carney (bar) Duke Ellington (p) Billy Strayhorn (p) Wendell Marshall (b) Louis Bellson (d)
Columbia Studios, New York, July 1, 1952

Perdido

Clark Terry, Willie Cook, Cat Anderson, Ray Nance (tp) Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, Juan Tizol (tb) Jimmy Hamilton (cl,ts) Russell Procope (as,cl) Hilton Jefferson (as) Paul Gonsalves (ts) Harry Carney (bar,cl,b-cl) Duke Ellington (p) Wendell Marshall (b) Louie Bellson (d)
Carnegie Hall, New York, November 14, 1952

Lullaby of Birdland
How high the moon

Clark Terry, Willie Cook, Cat Anderson, Ray Nance (tp) Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, Juan Tizol (tb) Jimmy Hamilton (cl,ts) Russell Procope (as,cl) Hilton Jefferson (as) Paul Gonsalves (ts) Harry Carney (bar,cl,b-cl) Duke Ellington (p) Wendell Marshall (b) Louie Bellson (d)
Birdland, New York, November 20, 1952

How high the moon
Perdido

Clark Terry, Willie Cook, Cat Anderson, Ray Nance (tp) Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, Juan Tizol (tb) Jimmy Hamilton (cl,ts) Rick Henderson (as) Russell Procope (as,cl) Paul Gonsalves (ts) Harry Carney (bar,b-cl,cl) Duke Ellington (p) Wendell Marshall (b) Butch Ballard (d)
McElroy’s Ballroom, Portland, Oregon, April 30, 1953

Perdido

Clark Terry, Willie Cook, Cat Anderson, Ray Nance (tp) Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, John Sanders (tb) Jimmy Hamilton (cl,ts) Rick Henderson (as) Russell Procope (as,cl) Paul Gonsalves (ts) Harry Carney (bar,cl,b-cl) Duke Ellington (p) Wendell Marshall (b) Dave Black (d)
Embassy Auditorium, Los Angeles, April 13, 1954

How high the moon
Stompin' at the Savoy

BOB WILBER
Clark Terry (tp) Bob Wilber (cl,ts) Dick Wellstood (p) George Duvivier (b) Panama Francis (d)
New York, July 22 & August 9, 1960

After Midnight
Please, blues go on away from here (Vocal by Clark Terry)
Soulful serenade
Basie eyes
The Maryland farmer
Baptist blues

For the three remaining tracks from the Wilber LP listen to the tape below (and note that other tracks on this additional tape will be presented later, with discography and images)

Where Will I Go

La Valse Bleue (The Blue Waltz)

Blue Rhumba

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credits: 

Discography by Tom Lord (modified by me)
Terry quotes from Clark: The Autobiography of Clark Terry
Audio source: Internet Archives