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Stanley Clarke: The Stanley Clarke Band

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Heads Up International
Released: 2010.06.15
Time:
 63:22
Category: Jazz
Producer(s): Stanley Clarke, Lenny White
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.stanleyclarke.com
Appears with: Al Di Meola, Jean-Luc Ponty
Purchase date: 2015
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Soldier (Ruslan Sirota) - 7:07
[2] Fulani (Armand Sabal-Lecco) - 6:29
[3] Here's Why Tears Dry (Stanley Clarke) - 4:52
[4] I Wanna Play for You Too (Felton C. Pilate II) - 4:13
[5] Bass Folk Song No. 10 (Stanley Clarke) - 3:40
[6] No Mystery (Chick Corea) - 7:09
[7] How Is the Weather Up There? (Ronald Bruner, Jr., Stanley Clarke) - 5:54
[8] Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu’s Report (Stanley Clarke) - 6:32
[8] Labyrinth (Hiromi) - 5:56
[9] Sonny Rollins (Stanley Clarke) - 8:49
[10] Bass Folk Song No. 6 [Mo Anam Cara] (Stanley Clarke) - 2:41

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Stanley Clarke - Acoustic Bass, Electric Bass, Producer, Vocals
Ronald Bruner, Jr. - Drums
Ruslan Sirota - Piano, Keyboards

Hiromi - Piano

Rob Bacon - Guitar
Charles Altura - Guitar
Bob Sheppard - Saxophone
Natasha Agrama - Vocals, Art Direction
Cheryl Bentyne - Vocals
Chris Clarke - Drum Programming
Lorenzo Dunn - Bass Synthesizer
John Papenbrook - Trumpet
Ilsey Juber - Vocals
Andrew Lippman - Trombone
Felton C. Pilate Ii - Keyboards
Armand Sabal-Lecco - Bass
Doug Webb - Saxophone

Lenny White - Producer
Gerry "The Gov" Brown - Engineer, Producer
Dennis Mackay - Engineer
Eddy Schreyer - Mastering
Jonathan Hakakian - Engineer, Electronic Production, Assistant Engineer, Drum Programming
Simon Kumar - Assistant Engineer
Natalie Singer - Product Manager
Christian Soza - Production Coordination
Steve Parke - Package Design, Photos of Stanley Clarke
Mike Lanfear - Band Photo

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded by Dennis Mackay at Resonate, Burbank, CA and by Gerry "The Gov" Brown at Topanga Studio, Topanga, CA. Mastered By Eddy Schreyer at Oasis Mastering, Burbank, CA.



The 2010 self-titled release by the Stanley Clarke Band is aptly titled; it actually feels more like a band record than anything he's done in decades. This isn't saying that Clarke's solo work is somehow less than, but when he surrounds himself with musicians that are all prodigies in their own right, the end results tend to be more satisfying. Produced by Clarke and Lenny White, his band is made up Compton double-kick drum maestro Ronald Bruner, Jr., Israeli pianist/keyboardist Ruslan Sirota, and pianist Hiromi Uehara (aka Hiromi) who plays selectively but is considered a member. There are guests, too, including a horn section, a couple of guitarists in Rob Bacon and Charles Altura, and saxophonist Bob Sheppard. Clarke plays his usual arsenal of basses. Sirota and Hiromi also contribute compositions to the album. They include the former's set opener "Soldier." While its intro is quiet and melodic enough, it evolves, first into a modal study with Clarke playing the melody before it kicks into jazz-rock overdrive with Altura playing a distorted rhythm guitar to Clarke's Alembic tenor bass. Dynamics shift and turn; they make the track a multi-faceted investigation with Sirota's piano solo sourcing both McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock. Hiromi's "Labyrinth" melds elements of "My Favorite Things" to modern post-bop and classical architectures; the breakbeats by Bruner add a funky touch, and Clarke's layered basses become a focal foil for the piano. There is also an updated reading of Chick Corea's "No Mystery," from Clarke's days with Return to Forever, that captures the tune's near transcendent curiosity without trying to re-create it. The drama brought by Clarke's bass is tense and declamatory. "Sonny Rollins" contains the theme from "Don't Stop the Carnival" and is Caribbean-flavored, but pays tribute to the saxophonist's entire career. Written by Clarke, it contains wonderfully knotty passages on acoustic as well as electric basses; Sheppard's fine soloing and fills make it a jumper. "I Wanna Play for You Too" is funkily self-explanatory for Clarke fans, while "Bass Folk Song #10" is a gorgeous solo piece. "Fulani" is an excellent piece of contemporary fusion, where "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu's Report," dedicated to Joe Zawinul, is a clumsy, failed attempt at summing up the music's history to date. The ballads, including "Bass Folk Song No. 6," which closes the set, work less well, but these are minor complaints on an otherwise fine recording.

Thom Jurek - All Music Guide



Bass giant Clarke and young Japanese piano star Hiromi come to Ronnie Scott's on 14 July, and it'll make a big difference whether they play this programme or last year's scintillating Jazz in the Garden set. That album was an unabashed jazz record, this one is a return to a funk repertoire reminiscent of Clarke's roots in Chick Corea electric bands, but with a soft lyricism (synth player Ruslan Sirota is a significant force) recalling Pat Metheny. Hiromi takes a back seat in what's often a melee of snapping backbeats and Clarke's characteristic slap-and-pluck bass guitar, though she does play with an impressive freedom at times. The opening Soldier is Methenyesque and features both a delicate Hiromi and a headlong Clarke. Fulani has a crunching rock feel, Here's why Tears Dry is funk-formulaic, but Corea's No Mystery features a Hiromi solo of subtle phrasing, powered by her usual jubilant momentum. It's more than just a box-ticking piece of jazz-funk commercialism, though Clarke could probably play a lot of this kind of thing in his sleep.

John Fordham, 8 July 2010
© 2015 Guardian News and Media



Stanley Clarke is still playing the bass the way he wants to, still pulling sounds out of his assortment of electric, acoustic and Alembic basses like nobody else, and still slapping, plucking and thumbing his way through contemporary, fusion jazz, rock, funk and whatever else he puts his mind to.

Clarke honed his craft working with pianist Horace Silver, saxophonists Gato Barbieri and Pharoah Sanders and drummer Art Blakey among others before keyboard player Chick Corea grabbed him for Return to Forever. Clarke enjoys returning the favor to young talent and he's got plenty to work with here in drummer Ronald Bruner, Jr., keyboardist Ruslan Sirota and—making a return engagement from The Stanley Clarke Trio—Hiromi Uehara on piano. The third member of the trio, Lenny White, is present as well, but trades in his drum seat for the producer's chair.

There are no radical departures on The Stanley Clarke Band as Clarke seems to be taking a victory lap here, revisiting past triumphs. As he has branched out to scoring films and television, Clarke can do pretty much whatever he wants to as a session musician, producer and bandleader. He seems to have left behind his flirtations with tepid rock 'n' roll (such as Rocks, Pebbles and Sand, Epic, 1980) and the lifeless pop of an earlier version of The Stanley Clarke Band, (Find Out!, Epic, 1985).

When you do as many things as well as Clarke, the trick is to find material challenging enough to stretch him and his bandmates. The bassist has both here even if he has to rummage through his back catalog a bit. "No Mystery" revisits his days as the bass master in Return to Forever. The proficiency of Hiromi's acoustic piano and Sirota's synthesizer isn't quite on the same par as Corea, but they're no slouches and Clarke's playing is still as energetic as it was in the mid 1970s when RTF was blowing both minds and speakers.

That's not to diminish the new stuff at all, as Sirota's "Soldier" features some dynamic interplay between the Israel-born keyboardist and Clarke. Armand Sabal-Lecco's "Fulani" is old school fusion for the 21st century. Hiromi's "Labyrinth" is as dense and moody as its title and the sizzling "Sonny Rollins" is an all-out rave with Bob Sheppard's tenor sax, Cheryl Bentyne's soaring vocals and a big, brassy horn section joining in the fun.

Clarke, in all his improvisations and incarnations as an artist, has never distanced himself from his jazz-rock roots. "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Liftime for the Return of Vishnu's Report," despite its clumsy title, is a well-intentioned homage to the genre's giants including drummer Tony Williams' Lifetime, Weather Report, trumpeter Miles Davis and Mahavishnu Orchestra among others.

There's a sense of closure from The Stanley Clarke Band and it's quite deliberate. Clarke says he's done with making electric albums for a while. Aged 59, Clarke has considerable and deserved pride in what he's accomplished as a composer and musician and whatever direction his future endeavors take him in, his legacy is already secured. He is to the electric bass what Jimi Hendrix was to the electric guitar; an unparalleled virtuoso who sets the standard for others to follow even as they create their own legacies.

Jeff Winbush - July 8, 2010
© 2014 All About Jazz



The Stanley Clarke Band is an album by jazz bassist Stanley Clarke. It was released by Heads Up Record in June 2010 and was produced by Clarke and Lenny White. Band members include Ruslan Sirota on keyboard, Ronald Bruner, Jr. on drums and Hiromi on piano. The album was awarded the 2011 Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album and the track "No Mystery" was nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. The Guardian gave the album three stars, calling it a "return to a funk repertoire reminiscent of Clarke's roots in Chick Corea electric bands", while Allmusic gave it a score of three-and-a-half stars. It is also the second Stanley Clarke album to be credited to The Stanley Clarke Band after his 1985 album Find Out!.

A core trio is constant throughout the album with Clarke joined by drummer Ronald Bruner, Jr. and keyboardist Ruslan Sirota. Hiromi is billed as a featured artist playing piano on "No Mystery", "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu’s Report" and her composition "Labyrinth". Several additional musicians appear on most tracks. Clarke, in discussing the band has said that "our common thread is improvisation". Keyboardist Ruslan Sirota is from Israel, Clarke has compared him to Chick Corea and George Duke. Pianist Hiromi is from Japan, Clarke has said that she "plays the piano like a tornado". Hiromi also played on Clarke's 2009 album Jazz in the Garden. Clarke referred to drummer Ronald Bruner, from Compton, California, as "one of the most important drummers out there". Bruner and Sirota had been playing with Clarke for five years or so before the album's release. The additional musicians include two guitarists Charles Altura and Rob Bacon, bassist Armand Sabal-Lecco on "Fulani", keyboardist Felton Pilate on "Here's Why Tears Dry", saxophonists Bob Sheppard on "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu’s Report". Lorenzo Dunn from Earth, Wind & Fire plays the bass synthesizer on "Soldier". "Sonny Rollins" features Manhattan Transfer vocalist Cheryl Bentyne and a full horn section with Sheppard sharing saxophone duties with Doug Webb, plus trumpeter John Papenbrook and trombonist Andrew Lippman. Natasha Agrama and Ilsey Juber provide vocals on "Soldier".

In describing the album, Clarke said, "Technically, it's a Stanley Clarke record, but it's very much a band-oriented record at the same time". Comparing the album to a ship, he said, "I'd be the one steering the ship and keeping everybody on course. But all hands were definitely on deck, and everyone played an important role in getting us to our destination". Clarke has said that this will be his last electric album for a while. Clarke co-produced the album with Lenny White who played drums on Clarke's 2009 album Jazz in the Garden. "Soldier", Ruslan Sirota's compositional contribution to the album, includes a piano solo with elements borrowed from McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock. It was called "Methenyesque" by music critic John Fordham. The track "Fulani" was written by Armand Sabal-Lecco and is "Africa-inspired" and has a "has a crunching rock feel". Talking about the track "Here's Why Tears Dry" Clarke said, "The tune came about when a family member was ending a long-time love affair. There were a lot of tears, so I came up with that song. The tears evaporate into thin air, and the pain eventually goes away." "I Wanna Play for You Too" was written by Felton Pilate who plays keyboards on the track. "Bass Folk Song No. 10" and the album's closing track, "Bass Folk Song No. 6" are both bass solo performances that Clarke wrote many years before they were recorded here. "No Mystery" is a reworking of the song written by Chick Corea when he and Clarke were bandmates in Return to Forever. "How Is the Weather Up There?" was written by Clarke and Ronald Bruner, Jr., and deals with global warming. The song was built around comments left by his fans in response to a post on Clarke's Facebook page asking for thoughts on global warming. "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu’s Report" pays homage in its name and musical stylings to Larry Coryell's The Eleventh House, Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Tony Williams Lifetime, Return to Forever, and Weather Report, all jazz fusion pioneers. "Labyrinth" was composed by Hiromi and contains elements from "My Favorite Things" with a "funky touch". "Sonny Rollins" is a Caribbean flavored tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins featuring Bob Sheppard on tenor sax and vocals by Cheryl Bentyne.

John Fordham of The Guardian called the album a "return to a funk repertoire reminiscent of Clarke's roots in Chick Corea electric bands". He goes on to call it "more than just a box-ticking piece of jazz-funk commercialism" but laments "Clarke could probably play a lot of this kind of thing in his sleep". William R. Wood wrote in the Kalamazoo Gazette that "Clarke’s complex bass work is invigorating as he blends jazz, rock and funk". Thom Jurek of Allmusic wrote that the album "feels more like a band record than anything [Clarke has] done in decades". He praises Clarke's choice in bandmates, calling them "prodigies in their own right" but does not praise the whole album. He called "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu's Report" a "a clumsy, failed attempt at summing up the music's history to date" and that "Bass Folk Song No. 6" does not "work [as] well" as some of the other tracks but "these are minor complaints on an otherwise fine recording". Jeff Winbush of All About Jazz commented that there "are no radical departures" on this album and it sounds as if Clarke is "taking a victory lap here, revisiting past triumphs" but that he "still pull[s] sounds out of his assortment of electric, acoustic and Alembic basses like nobody else, and [is] still slapping, plucking and thumbing his way through contemporary, fusion jazz, rock, funk and whatever else he puts his mind to".

The album won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album and the track "No Mystery" was nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. Clarke accepted his Grammy with his bandmates Ronald Bruner, Jr. and Ruslan Sirota and his wife, Sofi, at the Staples Center during a pre-telecast ceremony. Clarke was on tour in Australia with Return to Forever when he learned of his nominations. The other nominees for Best Contemporary Jazz Album were Never Can Say Goodbye by Joey DeFrancesco, Now Is the Time by Jeff Lorber Fusion, To the One by John McLaughlin, and Backatown by Trombone Shorty. The Best Pop Instrumental Performance was awarded to Jeff Beck for his rendition of "Nessun dorma".

“I'm grateful on behalf of the whole band for this honor. It's humbling to be in such strong company. It's so gratifying to see that jazz and instrumental music remain such vibrant and exciting musical forms, and that we could contribute to their vitality. I'd like to thank the members of the Stanley Clarke Band: keyboardist Ruslan Sirota; drummer Ronald Bruner, Jr.; pianist Hiromi Uehara and the rest of the performers on this album. I'd also like to thank my wife Sofi, who's been such a strong supporter of my career, and my children, who are also making their paths in the arts.”

Clarke after learning he won the Grammy.

Wikipedia.org
 

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