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Clarence Sharpe


Tom 1960

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I've presently listening to DISC 1 of the Lee Morgan Fifties Sessions and admiring the playing of Clarence Sharpe who is featured on alto. "Lee Morgan Indeed!" for those who don't own the Mosaic set. I was wondering since there seems to be very little info. out there? Are there any other sessions which feature his performances? A review on Dusty Groove's website refers to him as "virtually unknown".

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  • 2 months later...

Smalls has some C. Sharpe stuff.

Don't know if it'll see the light of day.

It is important enough that I am pretty committed to it. But the project requires an intern, some gear for transcribing cassettes, and a couple of months. Most of the material is very lo-fi, but it is more than enough to validate the claims people made about Sharpe.
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  • 6 years later...

We were buddies. I went up on the roof with him in '84 and we played Someone to Watch over Me for 45 minutes. I wish you could have heard the bass lines on alto he played behind me that day----let alone the solos.

He was underrecorded.That Archie Shepp album, Poem for Losers, has his solo on I Got it Bad (sung by his wife, China Perrault) all but obfiscated by Shepp's obnoxious obligatto.

There's a date with a Japanese drummer, Monkey, and something with another saxophone player named Ted Harris. They are probably hard to get. There were in the display case at Barry Harris's Jazz Cultural Theater, where he regularly performed.

He worked a lot in the 70s and 80s and had superstitions about recording. He talked a lot about 'the music that goes into the air'. He went to Paris to play a show opposite Phil Woods and others in the late 80s, but his health (cancer) declined after that. We lost him in early 1990. I think of him a lot. Beautiful soul, great player.

Edited by fasstrack
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Anyone wanting a nice long drink of C. Sharpe can go here: http://crownpropeller.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/105-minutes-with-legendary-clarence-c-sharpe/

I'm thrilled that this thread exists.

2 very nice sets on that excellent blog, in pretty decent fidelity all considered. Sharp certainly can play and both bands are top notch.

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Per that blog:

Tom Lord ‘s Jazz Discography just mentions four sessions: the one with Morgan, a session on August 26, 1969 under Archie Shepp’s name for Impulse (For Losers), one in 1984 with drummer Monky Kobayashi’s N.Y. Bebop Band for Paddlewheel. And finally one in January 1985 under pianist Freddie Redd’s name for Uptown.

Pretty sure the Sharpe is on at least one Clifford Jordan Big Band side as well.

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Anyone wanting a nice long drink of C. Sharpe can go here: http://crownpropeller.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/105-minutes-with-legendary-clarence-c-sharpe/

I'm thrilled that this thread exists.

2 very nice sets on that excellent blog, in pretty decent fidelity all considered. Sharp certainly can play and both bands are top notch.

Yes, BIG thanks for the link!

Per that blog:

Tom Lord ‘s Jazz Discography just mentions four sessions: the one with Morgan, a session on August 26, 1969 under Archie Shepp’s name for Impulse (For Losers), one in 1984 with drummer Monky Kobayashi’s N.Y. Bebop Band for Paddlewheel. And finally one in January 1985 under pianist Freddie Redd’s name for Uptown.

Pretty sure the Sharpe is on at least one Clifford Jordan Big Band side as well.

No Sharpe, but -- to my surprise -- John Jenkins is listed among the personnel on this Mapleshade release: http://mapleshaderecords.com/cds/03232.php

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C. Sharpe was his own mobius strip, part Bird,part Bud, part his own version of space is the place. He also was the loosest musician I've known, in terms of flowing from chorus to chorus commenting on the preceding ones with no trepidation or anxiety. You had to know the guy to know what a special artist he was. Recordings were only the tip of thn iceberg.

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Anyone wanting a nice long drink of C. Sharpe can go here: http://crownpropeller.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/105-minutes-with-legendary-clarence-c-sharpe/

I'm thrilled that this thread exists.

2 very nice sets on that excellent blog, in pretty decent fidelity all considered. Sharp certainly can play and both bands are top notch.

This is absolutely wonderful - thanks!!!

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  • 2 years later...
On ‎6‎/‎19‎/‎2007 at 5:57 PM, Joe said:

Sharpe is showcased on Freddie Redd's LONELY CITY (Uptown). Fine performances; slightly dated-sounding (mid-80s) production; still in-print.

 

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Just ordered this from Amazon. I'm in a listening-to-departed-friends mode. Also ordered The Mellow Side of Clifford Jordan (because of Chris Anderson), and Sonny Clark: Leapin' and Lopin' (because of Tommy Turrentine). Listening to the music gets me closer to their spirit...

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i wrote on the other c. sharpe thread that freddie redd's lonely city is a bit disappointing, and only b/c it was not a working band, and there just wasn't enough rehearsal time to make the challenging music really catch fire. if freddie redd could've scared up some gigs for this great band before recording this could've been something really special. the music deserved it, but those are the economic realities of the jazz life...

Edited by fasstrack
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It's not uncommon for records not to capture how good a player can be live .( think Bird)!

I'm enjoying "Lonely City" right now and it's a nice if not especially earth shattering date . Well worth getting as neither Redd or C recorded that much we have to treasure everything. 

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