Cobb: Clarke's Arpeggios

January 06, 2004

Clarke's Arpeggios

It seems as if I am hearing for the first time, all over again, the genius that is Stanley Clarke.

'If This Bass Could Only Talk' was on the box this morning and his signature arpeggios were in muted effect as he riffed and suggested riffs with his piccolo bass. Listening to them and trying to hear inside of the chords is well nigh impossible and you find yourself humming three notes where there are twelve being played. I don't think I've ever seen a video closeup of Clarke's long fingers when he does that incredibly fast thing he does with thick bass strings, but I imagine it to be capitvatingly awesome.

There is probably no better modern rendition of 'Goodbye Porkpie Hat' than that which Clarke delivers on this album. I must have listened to it a hundred times, but I never really paid attention to the percussion in the opening bars, and I realized that here was another place where the late great Gregory Hines left his signature taps.

Clarke has always been a man of few words, and yet sometimes embarassingly many lyrics. But people don't pay to hear him sing 'I Wanna Play For You', they just love hearing him play. Along with Jeff Beck, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke is one of the last remaining paragons of jazz fusion who have transcendently mastered the arrangements for electronic instruments. With Stewart Copeland of the Police, 'If This Bass..' demonstrates what smooth jazz still attempts to be at its best.

Posted by mbowen at January 6, 2004 09:23 AM

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