Stanley Clarke Quintet | 2023 Summer Sessions
Stanley Clarke performing on stage at SFJAZZ, with the 2023 Summer Sessions artwork
Film Music Explorations

Stanley Clarke QUARTET w/ STRINGS

Music from the Film Score Poetic Justice

AUG 9-13 | STANLEY CLARKE

Aug 12, 2023
Miner Auditorium

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This page is an archive of a past production


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Original show description below.

Virtuoso bassist, composer, and 2022 NEA Jazz Master Stanley Clarke is a peerless innovator and a five-time GRAMMY winner who brought new prominence to the electric bass in jazz and was a primary developer of jazz fusion as a founding member of the iconic band Return to Forever with the late Chick Corea.

On this night, Clarke’s ensemble, along with a string quartet, performs his music from the score of John Singleton’s landmark 1993 drama Poetic Justice, starring Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur. The band will perform the jazz-funk hit "Justice's Groove" and other crossover selections. Select excerpts from the film will also be projected in Miner Auditorium. 

A Philadelphia native, Clarke began bass studies in his youth, and moved to New York in 1971 after graduating from the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts, making his first recording with trombonist Curtis Fuller and working with the likes of Stan Getz, At Blakey, Joe Henderson, and Pharoah Sanders, among others.

Formed in 1972 for the recording of Getz’ Captain Marvel, Return to Forever was one of the greatest and most successful fusion bands of the 1970s, releasing seven studio albums that have become classics including Light as a Feather, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, and Romantic Warrior.

Clarke released his solo debut Children of Forever in 1973 and has recorded 24 albums as a leader, leading a procession of masterful bands, and collaborating with George Duke, McCoy Tyner, Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard, Al Di Meola, Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Stewart Copeland, and dozens more. Additionally, Clarke has led a secondary career as a film composer, writing scores for over 60 movies and television shows including Boyz n the Hood, Passenger 57, What’s Love Got to Do with It, and others.

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On this night, Clarke’s ensemble featuring a string quartet performs his music from the score of John Singleton’s landmark 1993 drama Poetic Justice, includin the jazz-funk hit "Justice's Groove".

One of the most revered electric and acoustic bassists in the genre.

Detroit Metro Times on Stanley Clarke

One of the most revered electric and acoustic bassists in the genre.

Detroit Metro Times on Stanley Clarke

Personnel

PERSONNEL
Stanley Clarke acoustic & electric bass
Greg Johnson soprano saxophone
Colin Hogan piano
David Rokeach drums/percussion

STRING QUARTET
Mads Tolling violin
Kayo Miki violin
Charlton Lee viola
Joseph Hebert cello

Stanley Clarke's prolific output can take you back to medieval times, soothe you with a gentle bow of the bass, or launch you into an interplanetary future

NPR

Personnel

PERSONNEL
Stanley Clarke acoustic & electric bass
Greg Johnson soprano saxophone
Colin Hogan piano
David Rokeach drums/percussion

STRING QUARTET
Mads Tolling violin
Kayo Miki violin
Charlton Lee viola
Joseph Hebert cello

Stanley Clarke's prolific output can take you back to medieval times, soothe you with a gentle bow of the bass, or launch you into an interplanetary future

NPR

Watch & Listen

Stanley Clarke

Justice's Groove

Stanley Clarke

Lucky Again

Stanley Clarke

Justice's Groove

Stanley Clarke

Lucky Again

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