Clarence Sharp ??
Julian Snow
listed as Clarence Sharp. Great!!. I can not find any other listing
in discographies for him except on this record. I Would like to hear
much more by him.
Who is he,? Or is this a name given for contactural reasons?
Thanks,
Julian Snow
Michael Fitzgerald
No, a real person, now deceased.
Go here:
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
search for "Clarence Sharpe" (with the final E) and you will find a
number of posts that detail his other activities. Unfortunately there
isn't a lot that got recorded.
Mike
Paul Okami
habit was a part of that. But he was a "musician's musician" and everyone
gigged with him when they came to NY
Paul Okami
--
"Michael Fitzgerald" <fitz...@eclipse.net> wrote in message
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Joe Milazzo
Archie Shepp, FOR LOSERS on Impulse!, from 1970; one of Shepp's
collaborations, in part, with Cal Massey -- no CD
Freddie Redd, LONELY CITY on Uptown -- the title track is a ballad feature
for Sharpe; CD should be readily available
Happy listening. Ciao.
WWise72606
>"C" Sharpe was a great New York alto player who never got "discovered.
C Sharpe was a Philadelphian.
He played a lot with Hassan Ibn Ali.
He was not recorded to any great extent.
Wilmer
Paul Okami
portion of his life. He may have been born in Philly.
--
"WWise72606" <wwise...@aol.com> wrote in message
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WWise72606
>C Sharpe lived on the Lower East Side of New York for most of that latter
>portion of his life. He may have been born in Philly.
Sharpe was a Philadelphian, that is how he was involved with Lee.
Cal Massey was a Philadelphian, that is how Sharpe played with Cal.
Philadelphians stick together, that is how I knew Sharpe.
We actually play in Owen Marshall's big band together.
Trust me, Sharpe was a Philadelphian.
Wilmer
Luke Kaven
Clarence "C" Sharpe came from Philadelphia, and recorded on "Indeed!" with
Lee Morgan at a very young age. This does not really show what the man was
able to do in later life. He was enormously influential on the New York
jazz scene and on a number of contemporary players who appeared in his band
in the 1980s. Bob Mover is an excellent example of a well-known player who
was very much influenced by C, and it shows in his sound.
C had been a legend in New York for many years, and a frequenter of many
sessions. As Roland Wiggins (Phila. native, and teacher to many) put it, C
Sharpe was a "musician's musician". For many years, I wanted to hear him,
but didn't know my way around the underground community well enough to find
my way to the appropriate sessions. Later, when I got involved with Smalls,
I discovered a number of musicians there who had performed with C Sharpe.
Younger players like William Ash, Ari Roland, Gregory Hutchinson, and at
times Jason Lindner were a part of his band for a couple of years...these
were young players emerging from New York's magnet high schools (Stuyvesant,
La Guardia) at the time.
C was notorious as someone who -- for all his talent -- did not seek the
spotlight, and in fact shunned it. He had ample opportunities to record,
but was uncompromising. At times he struggled with drug addiction and
homelessness. One despairs that the world couldn't have afforded him
better. But he certainly touched the lives of musicians on the New York
scene, and the force of that is felt today. I haven't met anyone who knew
him who wasn't touched. [This is one of the important reasons I have for
claiming that bebop is a living music in New York.]
Although C Sharpe refused to allow himself to be recorded, he did allow some
of his younger proteges (the aforementioned) to record their performances
together. When some of these tapes were played for me, I became aware for
the first time of what it was people were responding to, and at the same
time, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the record labels had failed
us all. I'd say that C Sharpe has a sound and a style very much like
later-period Charlie Parker. Think of Bird's playing on "Bird at St.
Nicks", and you have a vague idea of what I'm describing. Although he was
influenced very strongly by Charlie Parker, his ideas are his own, and his
style was fully mature and fully his. Unequivocally, he stands
shoulder-to-shoulder with the very best improvisors on the alto saxophone in
the bebop idiom. That place in history should be justly his. [Ask anyone
who knew him.]
A year ago, William Ash brought me 70 cassette tapes of recordings he and
his family had made of performances of C Sharpe's group at clubs like
Zanzibar and Augies in 1989-90. This usually consisted in William Ash on
guitar, Ari Roland on bass, and Greg Hutchinson on drums. The recording
quality is poor. But it certainly documents C during a very creative
period. We have been working on archiving and editing these recordings, and
hope to be able to release them in some form on the upcoming Smalls Records
label. I wish the recordings could have been of a higher quality, but for
those who don't care, his playing will speak for itself.
Luke Kaven
Smalls Records
Michael Fitzgerald <fitz...@eclipse.net> wrote in message
news:7bu0otc2rgkn1m3b7...@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 19 Aug 2001 21:21:22 -0400, Julian Snow