Mike Clark

Drummer Mike Clark is well known for his ground-breaking work with <a href="spotify:artist:2ZvrvbQNrHKwjT7qfGFFUW">Herbie Hancock</a>'s 1970s funk-jazz outfit <a href="spotify:artist:5JzA5RES9AMM9bK3oDyulT">the Headhunters</a>. He even headed up the group after <a href="spotify:artist:2ZvrvbQNrHKwjT7qfGFFUW">Hancock</a> left to pursue other projects. Clark's work goes far beyond the funk and R&B traditions, however, and his own albums -- like 1989's Give the Drummer Some, 1992's The Funk Stops Here, and 2000's Actual Proof -- reveal him as an astute contemporary jazz drummer and composer. Bebop and organ jazz influences marked 2010's Carnival of Soul, while 2023's avant-garde-leaning Kosen Rufu found him reuniting with two fellow <a href="spotify:artist:2ZvrvbQNrHKwjT7qfGFFUW">Hancock</a> band alumni, trumpeter <a href="spotify:artist:4LMsUGCTzMsLYcL90zb8sF">Eddie Henderson</a> and percussionist <a href="spotify:artist:4jfExfOYzFuC4YkwHFSgiG">Bill Summers</a>.

Born October 3, 1946, in Sacramento, California, Clark began his professional career at age six in New Orleans, dipping into blues, soul, and jazz. As a youth, he split time between Texas and Northern and Southern California, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, prominently performing with <a href="spotify:artist:7gXUrN8vgmVhKVCkw9pavV">Vince Guaraldi</a> on the legendary themes for the Peanuts television projects. He was also the drummer on singer <a href="spotify:artist:5Ryxgm3uLvQOsw4H5ZpHDn">Betty Davis</a>' maverick 1974 album They Say I'm Different. Clark and the pioneering electric bass guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:7gsPbGDWVe9eSVwI1ZZpnP">Paul Jackson</a> worked together until both of them were recruited for <a href="spotify:artist:5JzA5RES9AMM9bK3oDyulT">the Headhunters</a>, recording Thrust, Flood, and Man-Child with <a href="spotify:artist:2ZvrvbQNrHKwjT7qfGFFUW">Hancock</a> on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Columbia%22">Columbia</a> label, and <a href="spotify:artist:5JzA5RES9AMM9bK3oDyulT">the Headhunters</a>' albums for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Arista+Records%22">Arista Records</a>.

Then Clark started his career as a leader with the 1989 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Stash%22">Stash</a> album Give the Drummer Some, with help from heavyweights like <a href="spotify:artist:6oalE1Ov29U9WBDn63puSu">Jack Wilkins</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2kpf8XAAeTMMrEWjSxNpnx">Jack Walrath</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:1zQAlD3Ca9pSM9KLma3PgW">Ricky Ford</a>. Hopping from label to label over the next 15 years, Clark issued The Funk Stops Here for the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Enja%22">Enja</a> label in 1991, was part of Master Drummers, Vol. 3 for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ubiquity%22">Ubiquity</a>, collaborated with <a href="spotify:artist:7gsPbGDWVe9eSVwI1ZZpnP">Jackson</a> and vibraphonist <a href="spotify:artist:60774s5OgK9IsEjXSS7Zyt">Marc Wagnon</a> for the 2001 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Buckyball%22">Buckyball</a> CD Conjunction, and issued Summertime for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22JazzKey%22">JazzKey</a> in 2003 and his triumphant 2008 release, Blueprints of Jazz, Vol. 1, for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Talking+House+Records%22">Talking House Records</a>. Along the way, Clark revived <a href="spotify:artist:5JzA5RES9AMM9bK3oDyulT">the Headhunters</a> for recordings and touring, and over the years has collaborated with the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:4LMsUGCTzMsLYcL90zb8sF">Eddie Henderson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0qgbJLYz20q47xKIkkXBG9">Shawn Phillips</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2rNtnZArzMAimcRCnFrwUU">Alphonso Johnson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:304senzcXGpWqcpssNpmXJ">Brian Auger</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5ACxPOI9gR3l0cyy2dvkHv">Christian McBride</a>, Patrice Rushen, <a href="spotify:artist:5O96jqCUfrTJcS06REFtmX">Christian Scott</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:398OLP0K6sxmwsYaB7Wnmj">Robert Hurst</a>, among many others.

In 2010, Clark delivered Carnival of Soul, working with organists Jerry Z and <a href="spotify:artist:1pbzHyXrv8cJG2wCa9iW5R">Jeff Pittson</a>, as well as guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:2RbMOnpbQqUjejSB3Uwmzl">Rez Abbasi</a>. A concert album, Indigo Blue: Live at the Iridium, appeared in 2019, followed a year later by a trio album of <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">Beatles</a> covers with pianist <a href="spotify:artist:4KpDGzjnmZ8hYdrxthMI88">Michael Wolff</a> and bassist <a href="spotify:artist:67gETHyGURtTM6uPKPISYs">Leon Lee Dorsey</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:67gETHyGURtTM6uPKPISYs">Dorsey</a> was also on board for 2021's Freedom Jazz Dance with pianist <a href="spotify:artist:76RyqtLsvbJFynRIu9dXJ8">Manuel Valera</a>. 2023 brought both an album of <a href="spotify:artist:2ZvrvbQNrHKwjT7qfGFFUW">Herbie Hancock</a> covers as well as the hard-driving Kosen Rufu with trumpeter <a href="spotify:artist:4LMsUGCTzMsLYcL90zb8sF">Eddie Henderson</a> and percussionist <a href="spotify:artist:4jfExfOYzFuC4YkwHFSgiG">Bill Summers</a>, both fellow <a href="spotify:artist:2ZvrvbQNrHKwjT7qfGFFUW">Hancock</a> alumni. ~ Matt Collar & Michael G. Nastos, Rovi