Clark: The Autobiography of Clark Terry

by Clark Terry, Bill Cosby (Foreword by), Quincy Jones (Preface by), Gwen Terry (Contribution by), David Demsey (Introduction)

Overview

Compelling from cover to cover, this is the story of one of the most recorded and beloved jazz trumpeters of all time. With unsparing honesty and a superb eye for detail, Clark Terry, born in 1920, takes us from his impoverished childhood in St. Louis, Missouri, where jazz could be heard everywhere, to the smoke-filled small clubs and carnivals across the Jim Crow South where he got his start, and on to worldwide acclaim. Terry takes us behind the scenes of jazz history as he introduces scores of legendary greats—Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Dinah Washington, Doc Severinsen, Ray Charles, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Coleman Hawkins, Zoot Sims, and Dianne Reeves, among many others. Terry also reveals much about his own personal life, his experiences with racism, how he helped break the color barrier in 1960 when he joined the Tonight Show band on NBC, and why—at ninety years old—his students from around the world still call and visit him for lessons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520287518
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	06/12/2015
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Clark Terry (1920-2015) had an illustrious career—as an innovative trumpeter and flugelhornist, horn designer, leading jazz educator, and composer—that covered an epic span of jazz history. Winner of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and an NEA Jazz Master, in addition to many other accolades and awards, Terry was the author of Let’s Talk Trumpet: From Legit to Jazz and The Interpretation of the Jazz Language, both with Phil Rizzo.

Table of Contents

Preface by Quincy Jones
Foreword by Bill Cosby
Introduction by David Demsey

1. Big Dreams
2. First Instruments
3. Kicked Out
4. The Vashon High Swingsters
5. First Road Gig
6. Nigga
7. Ida Cox
8. Stranded
9. Lincoln Inn
10. On the Road Again
11. Tennis Shoe Pimp
12. Jailed
13. Len Bowden
14. Navy Days
15. Gray Clouds
16. The Big Apple
17. George Hudson
18. The Club Plantation
19. Galloping Dominoes
20. Tempting Offers
21. Lionel Hampton
22. Road Lessons
23. Pauline
24. Charlie Barnet
25. Count Basie
26. Big Debt
27. Duke Ellington
28. Leaving Basie
29. The University of Ellingtonia
30. Working with Duke
31. Duke’s Team
32. Duke’s Management Arts
33. Miles and Bird
34. Billy Strayhorn
35. Endurances
36. Flugelhorn
37. Europe
38. Norman Granz
39. Norman’s Battles
40. Q
41. NBC
42. Jim and Andy’s
43. Johnny and Ed
44. Mumbles
45. First House
46. Big Bad Band
47. Carnegie Hall
48. Etoile
49. Jazz Education Arena
50. Those NBC Years
51. Storms
52. Black Clouds
53. Keep on Keepin’ On
54. New Love
55. Whirlwinds
56. Through the Storm
57. Second Chance
58. The Biggest Surprise

Acknowledgments
Honors and Awards
Original Compositions
Selected Discography
Index

Photographs follow page 186

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"'Clark' chronicles, in endearing prose, Terry's personal and professional journey. . . . Onstage and in the backroom, Terry and his trumpet shared a front-row seat to jazz history. "Clark" is nothing short of that remarkable story."—San Francisco Chronicle

"Terry's wonderful book is a true labor of love."—Jazzwise

Editorial Reviews

An easy, entertaining and informative volume that will please his fans and introduce budding jazz listeners to his many contributions.

New York City Jazz Record

In his moving autobiography, Clark Terry tells the story of making his very first trumpet out of scrap metal, which led to school bands, then regional orchestras and eventually gigs with Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Terry also tells a fascinating story about how he broke ground when he joined the NBC Orchestra in 1960, becoming the first black member of that band. His contribution to American music would have been cemented with all of the above, but then he discovered jazz education. Clark is a worthy addition to the canon of race relations in this country and an even better account of a gifted, widely loved man who made this country a better place by simply falling in love with jazz.

National Public Radio - Felix Contreras

Compelling from cover to cover, this is the story of one of the most recorded and beloved jazz trumpeters of all time. With unsparing honesty and a superb eye for detail, Clark Terry, born in 1920, takes us from his impoverished childhood in St. Louis, Missouri, where jazz could be heard everywhere, to the smoke-filled small clubs and carnivals across the Jim Crow South where he got his start, and on to worldwide acclaim. Terry takes us behind the scenes of jazz history as he introduces scores of legendary greats.

All About Jazz

No doubt because of Terry’s ebullient personality, the text reads just the way he speaks, and has vivid descriptions of people, places and smells, with a knack for folksy similes.

Jazz UK Magazine

This is a book that will uplift, inspire, and make you laugh out loud. A life lived this well, with constant integrity, enthusiasm, positive energy and good will is something for which to cheer. The celebration begins when you open the pages.

Duke Ellington Society

The trumpet grandmaster, who turned 90 this year, addresses the scene with emotion, humor, concision, acuity and analytical discernment. . . . Nothing if not a blues epic, the narrative is also a true-grit portrait of a diligent, inspired artist.

Downbeat

Storytellers are to be cherished and Clark Terry should be on a pedestal for his thoroughly entertaining autobiography. Brimming with life, love, music, and great characters, this book is as much a history of the twentieth century as it is a history of his ninety years (and counting!).

Music Industry Newswire

An important book, an excellent read, a genuine page turner by a dependable, talented musician who achieved worldwide fame as a unique and creative improviser.

Blue Light

Terry offers a sprightly and readable account of the events, and, more importantly, of the character of the people who helped shape the music. He is a most entertaining companion, someone you come to trust and like immensely—a musician’s musician, obsessed with playing right from the start, always eager to learn more, hone his craft, grow as an artist, then share that knowledge with others.

KMUW Wichita Public Radio

Terry tells his amazing, finally triumphant, life story in a free-speaking, chatty, direct style.

Australian

[Clark Terry has] changed the institution of jazz education, creating new standards for a performer’s generous relationship with students of all types, and a healthy respect for the place of a thorough education in the evolution of jazz.

Jazzed: Jazz Education Journal

In his memoir, which has the pulse of jazz's life force, Clark Terry himself exemplifies what he once told me about Duke Ellington: ‘He wants life and music to be always in a state of becoming. He always likes to make the end of a song sound like it's still going somewhere.’ On and off the bandstand, and now at his home with students in Arkansas, he gets inside the jazz life. His choruses in this book will bring readers to his music for generations to come.

Wall Street Journal - Nat Hentoff

"Clark chronicles, in endearing prose, Terry's personal and professional journey. . . . Onstage and in the backroom, Terry and his trumpet shared a front-row seat to jazz history. . . . [that's] nothing short of that remarkable story.

San Francisco Chronicle

Clark is the last survivor of a great jazz age, and thus this book is doubly important. . . . With a subject like this you couldn’t go wrong, and the book is a most satisfying read.

Jazz Journal

Terry’s wonderful book is a true labor of love.

Jazzwise

“‘Clark’ chronicles, in endearing prose, Terry's personal and professional journey. . . . Onstage and in the backroom, Terry and his trumpet shared a front-row seat to jazz history. "Clark" is nothing short of that remarkable story.

San Francisco Chronicle - Alexander Heffner

"Informative, detailed, intimate, and throughly absorbing, "Clark" is very strongly recommended."

The Midwest Book Review

“Terry’s wonderful book is a true labor of love.

Jazzwise - Peter Vacher

The chapters of his memoir become their own improvisations as one memory keys off another, pulling you into the ‘set’ as if you were sitting at a front-row table, until he circles back to the story at hand. . . . The inside story of modern jazz, told by one of its most revered legends.

Shelf Awareness

A career . . . chronicled with open-hearted charm.

National Post

"Informative, detailed, intimate, and throughly absorbing, Clark is very strongly recommended."

Midwest Book Review

A long awaited story of the great joy of playing the trumpet and making music since the early 1930s. Terry’s book is conversational in style but blunt and exacting in detail about people and dates; he holds nothing back.

Jazz Times

A disarmingly honest and thoroughly entertaining autobiography. . . . No drug and alcohol sob stories here, just hard work and an exceptionally good nature. This is a sweet read.

Seattle Times

One feels that even the nearly sixty chapters of narrative are not enough to do justice to such an exceptional career.

ARSC Journal

Storytellers are to be cherished and Clark Terry should be on a pedestal for his thoroughly entertaining autobiography. Brimming with life, love, music, and great characters, this book is as much a history of the twentieth century as it is a history of his ninety years (and counting!).

Music Ícaro|Ícaro|Ícaro|Industry Newswire

When Johnny Carson gave a nod to Tonight Show Band trumpeter Clark Terry, the esteem in which he was held came through loud and clear. Most viewers probably didn't know that it was Terry who broke the color line for musicians at NBC, and only a handful were likely aware of the incredible credentials he had accumulated since his impoverished childhood in St. Louis. Writing with his wife, Terry tells us in an engaging and vivid voice about his long and varied career performing with virtually all of the greatest names in jazz of the last century, including the Count Basie and Duke Ellington bands. At 90, he displays an indefatigable sense of humor and a love of music. While he doesn't hesitate to tell all, it is all about the music. VERDICT Terry is a national treasure, and if you've listened to his playing, you've heard his story many times over. And in words, his narrative is a delight. Beyond a great read for jazz fans, this is a great American story for all readers.—Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll., NY

Library Journal