John Clark is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

horn player and composer. In

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, Clark is described as "possibly the most fluent jazz French horn soloist since the great

Julius Watkins Julius Watkins (October 10, 1921 – April 4, 1977) was an American jazz musician who played French horn. Described by AllMusic as "virtually the father of the jazz French horn", Watkins won the ''Down Beat'' critics poll in 1960 and 1961 for M ...

in the 1950s."Scott Yanno
John Clark:Il Suono
(review), accessed 2020-12-27

Biography

John Clark was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and grew up in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

. In 1966 he received a B.A.from the University of Rochester, where he also studied horn with Verne Reynolds at the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music ...

. From 1967 until 1971 he played in the

United States Coast Guard Band The United States Coast Guard Band is the premier band representing the United States Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security. Established in 1925, the Coast Guard Band is stationed at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, ...

. Clark received a M.M. degree (with honors) from the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on H ...

in 1973. He studied composition and improvisation with

Jaki Byard John Arthur "Jaki" Byard (; June 15, 1922 – February 11, 1999) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. Mainly a pianist, he also played tenor and alto saxophones, among several other instruments. He was known for hi ...

Ran Blake Ran Blake (born April 20, 1935) is an American pianist, composer, and educator. He is known for his unique style that combines blues, gospel, classical, and film noir influences into an innovative and dark jazz sound. His career spans over 40 rec ...

, and George Russell; and horn with James Stagliano, Thomas Newell, and Paul Ingraham. In 1991 he received a patent for the "hornette," an instrument with the same range as a French Horn but with a forward-facing bell for greater projection. He taught at the State University of New York at Purchase from 2001 until 2008, subsequently moving to faculty at Manhattan School of Music.

Performance work

Clark has performed or recorded with a wide variety of musicians, including in jazz:

Gary Bartz Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has won two Grammy Awards. Biography Bartz studied at the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, he performed with Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner in Charles Mingus' Jazz Wor ...

, Carla Bley, Ornette Coleman,

Gil Evans Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role i ...

, John Faddis,

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, Jerome Harris, Jim Hall,

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, Anthony Jackson, Leroy Jenkins, Howard Johnson,

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Joe Lovano Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952)"Joe Lovano." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 13. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 1994. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, May 5, 2017. is an American jazz saxophonist, alto clarin ...

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, Grachan Moncur,

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, Rachel Z, Paquito D'Rivera, Mike Richmond,

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, Frank Sinatra,

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, Spyro Gyra, David Taylor,

Toots Thielemans Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for his chromatic harmonica playing, as well as his guitar and whistl ...

, the

Turtle Island String Quartet The Turtle Island Quartet is a string quartet that plays hybrids of jazz, classical, and rock music. The group was formed in 1985 by David Balakrishnan, Darol Anger, and Mark Summer in San Francisco. They released their first album on Windham ...

McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Master and five-time Gram ...

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, and the

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is an American big band and jazz orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis. The Orchestra is part of Jazz at Lincoln Center, a performing arts organization in New York City. History In 1988 the Orchestra was formed a ...

. Outside of jazz, he has worked with the Aspen Wind Quintet,

Ashford and Simpson Ashford & Simpson were an American husband-and-wife songwriting-production team and recording duo of Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – August 22, 2011) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946). Ashford was born in Fairfield, South Carolina, ...

, the

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, the

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, Isaac Hayes, Billy Joel, B. B. King, LL Cool J, Joni Mitchell,

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Sting,

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, and the

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. He has performed as a studio musician for many films, including ''

Mission to Mars ''Mission to Mars'' is a 2000 American science fiction adventure film directed by Brian De Palma, written by Jim Thomas, John Thomas, and Graham Yost, and suggested by Disney's theme park attraction of the same name. The film depicts the first ...

'', '' Fargo'', and ''

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...

''.

Awards

* ''

Down Beat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' Critics' Poll winner, 1979–1982 *

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...

Award for Most Valuable Player in Recording Field, 1986

Discography

As leader

* 1980 ''Song of Light'' (Hidden Meaning) * 1981 ''Faces'' ( ECM) * 1992 ''Il Suono'' (CMP) * 1997 ''I Will'' (

Postcards A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

) * 2003 ''Confluence'' (Hidden Meaning) * 2015 ''The Odd Couple Quintet +1'' * 2016 ''Sonus Inenarrabilis'' (

Mulatta (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese i ...

)

As sideman

With

Franco Ambrosetti Franco Ambrosetti (born 10 December 1941) is a jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer. He was born in Lugano, Switzerland; his father, Flavio, was a saxophonist who once played opposite Charlie Parker.Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

'' (

Enja Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Ja ...

, 1984) With

* '' There Comes a Time'' (

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, 1976) * ''

Gil Evans Live at the Royal Festival Hall London 1978 ''Gil Evans Live at the Royal Festival Hall London 1978'' is a live album by jazz composer, arranger, conductor and pianist Gil Evans recorded in London in 1978 by Evans with an orchestra featuring Arthur Blythe, George Adams, and Lew Soloff ...

'' (RCA, 1979) * ''

Live at the Public Theater (New York 1980) ''Live at the Public Theater (New York 1980)'' is a live album by jazz composer, arranger, conductor and pianist Gil Evans recorded in New York in 1980 by Evans with an orchestra featuring Arthur Blythe, Hamiet Bluiett, and Lew Soloff and ori ...

'' Vol.1 (Trio, 1980) * ''Live at the Public Theater (New York 1980)'' Vol.2 (Trio, 1981) * ''

Bud and Bird ''Bud and Bird'' is a live album by Gil Evans that won the Grammy Award for Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 1989. Evans conducted the orchestra, which included Hamiet Bluiett, Bill Evans (saxophon ...

'' (

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

/Electric Bird, 1987) * '' Farewell'' (King/Electric Bird, 1992) With Benny Green *'' The Place To Be'' (Blue Note, 1994) With

* ''

Homage to Duke ''Homage to Duke'' is an album by American pianist Dave Grusin released in 1993, recorded for GRP Records, and is Grusin's interpretation of Duke Ellington's music. The album was well received. In addition to Mood Indigo winning the 1994 Gramm ...

'' (GRP, 1993) With

Billy Harper Billy Harper (born January 17, 1943) is an American jazz saxophonist, "one of a generation of John Coltrane, Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists" with a distinctively stern, hard-as-nails sound on his instrument.Chris KelseyBilly Harper Biogr ...

* ''

Soul of an Angel ''Soul of An Angel'' is an album by saxophonist Billy Harper recorded in 1999 and released on the Metropolitan label. Reception In his review for AllMusic, Michael G. Nastos states "This is a Rock of Gibraltar solid CD, ranking amongst Harper' ...

'' (Metropolitan, 2000) With

* '' New Picture'' (Landmark, 1985) With Leroy Jenkins * ''

Mixed Quintet ''Mixed Quintet'' is an album by American jazz violinist Leroy Jenkins recorded in 1979 for the Italian Black Saint label.

'' (Black Saint, 1979) With

Jimmy Knepper James Minter Knepper (November 22, 1927 – June 14, 2003) was an American jazz trombonist. In addition to his own recordings as leader, Knepper performed and recorded with Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman, Claude Thornhill, Stan Kenton, Benny Goo ...

*'' I Dream Too Much'' (Soul Note, 1984) With

* '' Rush Hour'' (Blue Note, 1994) With

Grachan Moncur III Grachan Moncur III (June 3, 1937 – June 3, 2022) was an American jazz trombonist. He was the son of jazz bassist Grachan Moncur II and the nephew of jazz saxophonist Al Cooper. Biography Born in New York City, United States, (his paternal gran ...

* ''

Exploration Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organisms ...

'' (Capri, 2004) With Bob Stewart * '' Goin' Home'' (JMT, 1989) With Sting * '' If on a Winter's Night...'' (Deutsche Grammophon, 2009) With

Stanley Turrentine Stanley William Turrentine (April 5, 1934 – September 12, 2000) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He began his career playing R&B for Earl Bostic and later soul jazz recording for the Blue Note label from 1960, touched on jazz fusion ...

* '' Nightwings'' (Fantasy, 1977)

Bibliography

*1993 – ''Exercises for Jazz French Horn'' (Hidden Meaning Music)

References

External links

Bio page at Jazz.com Encyclopedia of Jazz MusiciansBio page at AMT
*Review of "I Will" by Carlo Wolf in ''JAZZIZ'', September 1997 V.1, N.9
SUNY Purchase biographyConn-Selmer
– musical instrument maker
Hidden Meaning Music
– John Clark's label {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, John American jazz horn players American jazz composers American male jazz composers University of Rochester alumni Living people Horn players New England Conservatory alumni 1944 births ECM Records artists Postcards Records artists