Four-time Grammy Award Winner Stanley Clarke has obtained “living legend” status during his over 50-year career as a bass virtuoso. He is the first bassist in history to double on acoustic and electric bass with equal ferocity and the first jazz-fusion bassist ever to headline tours, selling out shows worldwide. A veteran of over 45 albums, Clarke’s creativity has been recognized and rewarded in every way imaginable. In 2022 Clarke was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of its four new Jazz Master honorees. He also was Rolling Stone’s very first Jazzman of the Year and bassist winner of Playboy’s Music Award for ten straight years. Clarke was honored with Bass Player Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award and is a member of Guitar Player Magazine’s “Gallery of Greats.” In 2011 he was honored with the highly prestigious Miles Davis Award at the Montreal Jazz Festival for his entire body of work. In September 2016 he became a part of the permanent collection displayed at the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington DC. Clarke’s CD, The Message, was released on Mack Avenue Records in 2018. The Clarke’s soundtrack of the documentary, Halston, was released on Node Records June 2019. Unable to tour most of 2020, Clarke’s Pandemic work has involved developing his web series, Stanley Clarke’s Bass Nation, premiering November 2020.
Presented by Count Basie Center for the Arts
