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Sonny Clark Trio(with PC and Philly Joe)


CJ Shearn

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I picked up Sonny Clark Trio then other day and actually just finished the album, it really knocks me out. Sonny's lines come out of that whole Bud/Horace/Wynton Kelly thing but they have personality all their own. The solo take of "I Remember April", I may be off the mark but I heard a little Bill Evans-esque stuff in there, anyone agree?

Edited by CJ Shearn
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I picked up Sonny Clark Trio then other day and actually just finished the album, it really knocks me out.  Sonny's lines come out of that whole Bud/Horace/Wynton Kelly thing but they have personality all their own.  The solo take of "I Remember April", I may be off the mark but I heard  a little Bill Evans-esque stuff in there, anyone agree?

If you mean Bill Evans when he still had balls, yes.

Much as I love Clark with wind instruments, once in a while it's great to hear him in bare-bones trio format. I was so psyched when this was re-issued as an RVG, because my only copy up til then was a used Japanese vinyl, OK, but a little banged up. Hard for me to be objective about Sonny Clark, since after all these years I'm still kind of obsessed with his work. Great to hear someone else digs him! :tup

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Truly, a great album. And the RVG remastering enhances the listening experience.

Although Sonny and Horace are out of the Bud Powell "school", I believe Sonny had more chops than Horace (and I love Horace). The runs he makes on tunes like "Be-Bop" are ecstatic. And the tenderness displayed on ballads like "I'll Remember April" is haunting. To hear Sonny in a trio context lets you hear all the facets of his playing that you may not notice in a larger group. We already knew his comping is unsurpassed.

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You know, oddly enough the last few times I've tried to listen to Sonny Clark sessions I just didn't connect to them and took them off. Whereas I've been really blown away for like the fiftieth time by Bud Powell recording, and I recntly put on about six Wynton Kelly sideman appearances because Wynton was on there. . . .

I'll get back iin to Sonny but I don't feel the SPARK right now. This happens to me sometimes.

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BruceH, what do you mean by when Bill Evans "still had balls"? a little confused here.

Well, last few years I've noticed I prefer early Evans to late. More swing, less prettiness for its own sake. Not the best way to put it, I freely admit. I thought of editing those words out but succumbed to sheer laziness. My bad.

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Those Blue Notes are nice, but I find Clark even more compelling when he plays his own compositions on the one and only trio album for Time, with George Duvivier and Max Roach.

I tend to agree; that Time album is a big favorite of mine.

Oh yes!

That's it. With three endorsements like this, and liking everything else I have of Clark's, I now have to order this. :rolleyes:

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  • 18 years later...

Reviving this ancient thread because: I was comparing the JRVG Trio twofer with the Tone Poet and a King pressings of 81579,  and the channels are reversed on the CD. I checked the Be-Bop file on Mosaic’s site, and it matches the CD, with drums on the right. 
They’re uncharacteristically on the left on both of the records- kinda weird, anyone know what happened there?

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