Live Band
Live di questa band:
Nessun evento trovato in archivio
Testi in archivio:
-
14/12/2005 13:23 - Stanley Clarke: Film, TV & All That Jazz
by Bruce Haring
Considerato ...
Stanley Clarke: Film, TV & All That Jazz by Bruce Haring Considerato uno dei più acclamati bassisti della musica contemporanea, Stanley Clarke è diventato famoso negli anni '70 con la band di fusion rock/jazz Return To Forever, nella classica formazione insieme al tatstierista Chick Corea, al chitarrista Al Di Meola e al batterista Lenny White. In oltre 20 anni di carriera ha inciso 14 album da solista, tra cui il notevole "School Days". Ha collaborato con alcuni dei grandi nomi della musica pop, compreso un periodo, non troppo riuscito, con Jeff Beck e altri progetti fruttuosi con il tastierista George Duke. Più recentemente ha fatto un tour con la stravagante concerto Jazz "Live At The Greek", in cui ha eseguito una versione di 20 minuti di "School Days" ad Al DiMeola e Jean Luc Ponty. Inoltre ha accompagnato Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, Dexter Gordon.a vinto un Grammy ed è stato nominato tre volte agli Emmy. Poi, abbastanza casualmente, è passato alla composizione di musiche da film e per trasmissioni Tv. Il primo lavoro è stato proprio per la televisione: uno spettacolo per bambini. Clarke proveniva dal mondo dei concerti e dei dischi e inizialmente non era troppo interessato alle colonne sonore. Ma il successo di quel primo esperimento lo ha convinto che era il caso di approfondire quel settore. Così sono venute le musiche di "What's Love To Do With It", "Poetic Justice", "Passenger 57", "Boyz 'N The Hood" e "The Five Heartbeats", dei lavori per la Tv e l' introdusione al videoclip di Michael Jackson "Remember The Time". Fare colonne sonore, secondo lui, richiede alcune doti particolari, che non hanno necessariamente a che fare con la bravura tecnica. "Conosco musicisti geniali - dice - che non potranno mai essere compositori per il cinema. Quando vedi sullo schermo due persone che si baciano devi conoscere i sentimenti che si provano in quell' occasione per scrivere musica che possa accompagnare quella scena o addirittura potenziarne l' effetto emotivo". Stanley Clarke ha lavorato soprattutto con la nuova scuola dei cineasti neri, ma rifiuta di sentirsi confinato in quel genere. "Sono nero e sono un compositore, ma penso di avere più possibilità di lavorare ad un film, ad esempio, con Barbra Streisand rispetto ad un musicista bianco heavy metal. Mi piacerebbe fare Un film con Robert De Niro. Ma nel frattempo sono contento di farlo con Angela Bassett". Comunque, nonostante il successo ottenuto con le colonne sonore, si considera ancora un novellinoe non sa indicare quale possa essere il suo migliore lavoro. "Mi ci vorranno - spiega - altri sette o otto anni di lavoro. Non ho ancora fatti tutti i tipi di film che vorrei fare". Stanley Clarke: Film, TV & All That Jazz by Bruce Haring Stanley Clarke and Mae West agree on at least one thing: goodness has nothing to do with it. "I know a lot of great, genius musicians who could never be film composers," says Clarke, whose own acclaim as a musician grants him the authority to speak. "To me, most good composers usually have a lot of life experiences or have the ability to perceive others and their experiences. When you look at the screen and see kissing, you have to know something about it to write it or enhance it. If you have a good feel for people, if you have the ability to write music, somewhere in there could be a film composer." One of the things that's never been in question is Clarke's ability to write music, although his own desire to enter the world of film and television composing was somewhat tempered by his success in recording and performing. Easily one of the most acclaimed bass players in contemporary music, Clarke's 20 years of credits would consume three pages of a resume if laid out in detail. Suffice to say that he's had 14 solo albums; stints with Return to Forever, Animal Bag and the New Barbarians (which featured Ron Wood and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones); has backed Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, Dexter Gordon and Jeff Beck, among others; and won a Grammy, had three Emmy nominations, and has been feted by such magazines as Rolling Stone, Playboy and Guitar Player. Film and television composing, however, was something of an afterthought. "It's not that I put down film music, but coming out of records and playing live, that to me was the ultimate," Clarke explains. "I figured that I had it all. But not until I got into film composing did I realize that you can do some things with that music that you can't really reach in making records, especially if you want to make records that sell." Clarke entered film/TV composing "sort of by accident. I was doing some work on a Barry Manilow TV special; we had a bunch of musicians who were sort of actors but were there as ourselves, playing in something having to do with Barry. The director was Steve Binder, and he was directing a kid's Saturday show called 'Pee Wee's Playhouse,' and he asked me to score one of the episodes." Things went so well that Clarke received a daytime Emmy nomination for best score, and took it as "a sign to me that this was something I should investigate and pursue." Clarke's composing career has, so far, mirrored his success in recording and performing. His film credits include What's Love Got To Do With It, Poetic Justice, Passenger 57, Boyz N The Hood and The Five Heartbeats. His TV work is marked by "Final Shot: The Hank Gaithers Story," and Clarke has also found time to dip into music video, scoring the intro to Michael Jackson's music video, "Remember The Time." While that list leans heavily towards the new school of black filmmakers exploding on the Hollywood scene, Clarke refuses to believe that he'll be limited to that genre. "You're always going to get people that have some sort of ignorance about you or are just not educated about you," he says. "That's not only true about me as a black person, but I can take someone who plays in a heavy metal band, a straight up white guy with hair down to his ass, and if he walks into MGM and Warner Bros. and says he wants to score the next Streisand movie, I have a better chance of doing that than he could. "Okay, I'm a black man, a composer, and I'm sure that although I haven't really heard it directly, people out there that maybe my tape has come across might say, 'He doesn't have the right feel' or 'Maybe he can't do this.' I don't waste my time on that kind of stuff. I'm fortunate enough to work a lot. I might never do some of those films that I like to do - I'd love to do a film with De Niro or Meryl Streep or some of those type actors - but at the same time, I don't put down Angela Bassett." Clarke is hesitant to pick out his best work to date. "I've done some things I like, but as far as my best work in film, I'm still a baby in that. Maybe in another seven or eight years I'll be able to tell you. I haven't done all the kind of films I want to do." The work for Passenger 57, however, was his biggest challenge to date. "Every composer should do a big Hollywood action picture," he states. "You really have to work your balls off. If you can do that, you can do anything technically." He also has a soft spot for What's Love Got To Do With It: "I thought the music made everyone feel real sympathetic toward [Tina Turner's] life, through comments I've heard from people that didn't know too much about Tina Turner. They said she had such a hard life, Ike was so bad - that's what I was trying to do with the music, to get people to feel that." Clarke's method of composing has largely evolved from his gut instincts on human relations, he claims. "In records, for the most part, regardless of what style or genre you're in, right off the bat you're limited cause you're in a style, you're a jazz artist or country artist. In film, you have more dynamics to work with. You do music that emulates all the various attitudes and tones that people find themselves in, from death to the serenity of being to everything in the middle. The thing that excited me about film composing is I get a chance to do things in the way I studied. I went to college and learned to orchestrate - that's what I thought I'd be doing. I now feel like a complete musician." Clarke's home studio includes a 40-channel Amek mixing console that uses four Emulator 3's. He also has an Atari four-track and an Atari 24-track, some Yamaha Keyboards, Korg M-l's, and various drum machines. The Macintosh SE is his computer of choice, along with a Linx synchronizer, a Performer program, and "tons of outboard gear." He composes "on piano or sometimes bass, sometimes nothing. It depends on the piece. If it's very simple and I need to get it down quick, I just hear it and put it down on paper. If it's a little more complicated and I want to mess around, I will put it on the Mac in Performer program and record it." And thought the habits of jazzmen are legendary, Clarke admits he now keeps modified banker's hours. "I used to stay up all night, but now I stop working at 10 p.m. After a certain hour, it shuts down and the work is not that good. I can stop and come back at 7 a.m. and work until noon and get a day's work done if need be." The change in lifestyle seems to have worked in at least one area. Clarke's latest album, East River Drive, his first in five years, went to #1 on the adult contemporary charts. "It was nice to come back really strong. I'm very happy and proud of that record," he says. In addition, Clarke has founded his own label, Slamm Dunk Records, which put out the soundtrack to Passenger 57 and this year will issue a live record from a tour Clarke did with Larry Carlton, Billy Cobham and Najii. And after that? "I'll make some more records, will do some tours, do some more film music - and continue to do what I do." Bruce Haring is a contributor to the LA Times, BAM, and is managing editor of The Global Network News. return to MusicWorld Spring '94 table of contents Home Hyperrepertoire Songwriters Licensing News / Events Legislation Planet Site Stereo BMI Store MusicWorld About BMI Archives/Links Tree/Search Stanley Clarke --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Image] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stanley Clarke first rose to fame in the seventies with the rock/jazz fusion band Return To Forever, in their classic line-up alongside keyb man Chick Corea, guitarist Al DiMeola and drummer Lenny White. Around the same time, Clarke also recorded numerous solo albums including the outstanding School Days, the title track featuring one of the most memorable bass riffs ever and some of the most amazing slap work to be rendered to vinyl (also available on CD). [Image] Clarke has teamed up with some of the real big boys of popular music, including an ill-fated term with Jeff Beck, and some fruitful collaborations with keyboardist George Duke. Most recently though, Clarke has toured with the jazz extravaganza captured on Live at the Greek (see below) which features a 20 minute (phew !) version of School Days, and also with stringular wizzes Al DiMeola and Jean Luc Ponty. As well as releasing the odd solo album here and there, Stanley also keeps himself busy composing soundtracks and generally being rather cool. Essential Listening ... With Return To Forever :- * The Best of Return To Forever (1980) Solo :- * School Days (1976) * If This Bass Could Only Talk (1988) With Larry Carlton, Billy Cobham, Najee and Deron Thompson :- * Stanley Clarke and Friends - Live at the Greek (1994) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Image] Alain Caron John Entwistle [Image] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Tony's Bass Space Back Home ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://bmi.com
