Sonny Clark
Cool Struttin'

There is an element that unites those who play Jazz with those, engaged in folk dance, who reach the moment of the Contrè: the exchange of roles. In dance, ladies and gentlemen swap positions. In Jazz, now you are a sideman, now you are a leader, and once again a sideman.

Sonny Clark was a fabulous sideman, despite his career, which ended prematurely with the passing of the pianist from Pennsylvania in 1963 at the age of 31, lasting just under ten years. Excellent albums, especially from Alfred Lion's Blue Note label, such as "Go!" by Dexter Gordon, "Minor Move" by Tina Brooks, "The Congregation" by Johnny Griffin, had the privilege of featuring the piano of this great pianist whom I count among my favorites, but unfortunately he remained somewhat in the background compared to other masters of the instrument.

Clark's phrasing is highly recognizable, and this is a fundamental point for any musician, of any genre, who wants to leave a small/great mark in history. If you listen to the piano in Gordon's "Cheesecake", even if you're not a technician but a simple enthusiast like myself, and then listen to "Airegin", a classic of Sonny Rollins in Grant Green's version, you can tell that it's the same person at the piano. As mentioned, Clark was a great sideman, but he also had a very good career as a leader, and the album in question, "Cool Struttin'", recorded for Blue Note in January 1958, is proof of all this. Clark's sidemen in "Cool Struttin'" are all first-rate musicians who brought incalculable prestige to 20th century Jazz: on trumpet, Art Farmer, another indispensable figure of Jazz trumpet, who had already had a chance to play with Clark since the early '50s, when Sonny landed in Los Angeles. On alto saxophone, Jackie McLean, who, still remaining in the dimension of a luxury sideman, will soon have his definitive breakout at the dawn of the next decade. Philly Joe Jones on drums and Paul Chambers on double bass, the irresistible guys of Miles, complete this dream team.

The album oscillates between Bop/Hard Bop, even though the discussion opens with a delightful jazzy/bluesy appetizer written by Clark himself, which shares the name of the album, "Cool Struttin'". But the high point definitely comes with "Blue Minor", one of the highlights of Clark's career. The piece has something mysterious; it is not explosive as one would expect from a piece that heralds Hard Bop, and in this sense, Farmer, with a refined breath, offers a performance closer to Cool. Ultimately, it's not even about currents of Jazz where the boundaries can be thin, but a splendid virtuous circle. Another significant moment comes with the notes of "Sippin' at Bells" by Miles Davis, from the Bop period of Miles. The piece is harmonically Bop, reminiscent of the period in question and Bird's influence, who, not coincidentally, was part of the original piece by Miles; and it's no coincidence that in "Sippin' at Bells", McLean's style (he too formerly one of Miles's guys) is anchored to Parker's.

In conclusion, it's an album not truly memorable, but an absolute must-have in a good Jazz record collection. An album that nonetheless does justice to a talented pianist like Sonny Clark, a pianist who deserves to be remembered thanks to the pages of great music he left us.