Move to Paris and later life (1956–1985)

In September 1956, Clarke moved to Paris where he initially worked with Jacques
Hélian's orchestra, before holding engagements at the Club Saint-Germain and the
Blue Note.[3] He regularly worked with visiting American musicians such as Miles
Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Stan Getz,notably contributing with Davis to the
soundtrack for Ascenseur pour l'échafaud.[8][10] Clarke also formed a trio, known
as "The Three Bosses", with pianist Bud Powell, another Paris resident, and bassist
Pierre Michelot, who had also played on the Davis soundtrack. In 1963 The Three
Bosses recorded the album Our Man in Paris with tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon.
[10] In 1961, with Belgian pianist Francy Boland, Clarke formed the Kenny
Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band, featuring leading European and expatriate American
musicians. It began touring in 1966 and was active until 1972.[3][8] Korall said of
his contribution to the band: "Playing softer than most drummers in a large
ensemble, feeding the surge, doing the work of the great accompanist he always had
been, Clarke consistently proved flash is totally irrelevant. He used just enough
decoration to make the band's music, much of it with a blues base, a bit more
exciting and interesting for the players and listeners."[8]

In 1962 he married Daisy Wallbach, a Dutch woman, and they settled in the Paris
suburb of Montreuil. The couple had a son, Laurent (born 1964). Clarke began a
drumming school with Dante Agostini at the headquarters of the instrument maker
Henri Selmer Paris in 1965, and he and Agostini spent seven years creating a
drumming method.[17][18] In 1967, he began teaching at the Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Conservatoire (where he worked until 1972).[3][8][10] He had a period of
convalescence after a heart attack in 1975, before going to Chicago in September
1976 for a reunion of Gillespie's big band.[3][7] In 1979 he taught jazz at the
University of Pittsburgh as a substitute for his friend Nathan Davis.[4] He
performed in European jazz festivals until 1983 and made his last performances at a
five-night-a-week engagement in December 1984.[3][7] On January 26, 1985, he died
of a second heart attack at his home; he was 71.[3]

Recognition
Clarke was made an NEA Jazz Master in 1983[19] and inducted into the DownBeat Jazz
Hall of Fame through the Critics' Poll in 1988.[20]

Discography
As leader or co-leader
Special Kenny Clarke 1938–1959 (Jazz Muse)
Telefunken Blues (Savoy, 1955)
Kenny Clarke & Ernie Wilkins (Savoy, 1955) with Ernie Wilkins
Bohemia After Dark (Savoy, 1955)
Klook's Clique (Savoy, 1956)
Jazzmen: Detroit (Savoy, 1956)
Plays André Hodeir (Philips, 1956)
The Golden 8 (Blue Note, 1961)
Americans in Europe Vol. 1 (Impulse!, 1963)
Pieces of Time (Soul Note, 1983)
Kenny Clarke / Francy Boland Big Band (1962–1971)

see discography section of The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band

As sideman
With Gene Ammons

All Star Sessions (Prestige, 1950–55 [1956])

Gene Ammons and Friends at Montreux (Prestige, 1973)
With Elek Bacsik

The Electric Guitar of the Eclectic Elek Bacsik (Fontana, 1962)

With Eddie Bert
Musician of the Year (Savoy, 1955)
Encore (Savoy, 1955)
Montage (Savoy, 1955)
With Ray Bryant

Ray Bryant Trio (Epic, 1956)

With Kenny Burrell

Jazzmen Detroit with Kenny Burrell, Tommy Flanagan, Pepper Adams, Paul Chambers
(1956; Savoy)
Introducing Kenny Burrell (Blue Note, 1956)
With Donald Byrd

Byrd's Word (Savoy, 1955)

With Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin

Tough Tenors Again 'n' Again (MPS, 1970)

With Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh

With Miles Davis

Birth of the Cool (Capitol, 1949)

Bags' Groove (Prestige, 1957)
Walkin' (Prestige, 1957)
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Fontana, 1958)
Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants (Prestige, 1959)
With Art Farmer

Early Art (New Jazz, 1954)

When Farmer Met Gryce (Prestige, 1954) with Gigi Gryce
With Frank Foster

No 'Count (Savoy, 1956)

With Dizzy Gillespie

The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (Bluebird, 1937–1949, [1995])

Dizzy Gillespie and the Double Six of Paris (Philips, 1963)
The Giant (America, 1973)
The Source (America, 1973)
With Dexter Gordon

Our Man in Paris (Blue Note, 1963)

Blues à la Suisse (Prestige, 1973)
With Johnny Griffin

Night Lady (Philips, 1964)

With Urbie Green

Blues and Other Shades of Green (ABC-Paramount, 1955)

With Hampton Hawes

Playin' in the Yard (Prestige, 1973)

With Milt Jackson

Roll 'Em Bags (Savoy, 1949–56)

Wizard of the Vibes (Blue Note, 1952)
Meet Milt Jackson (Savoy, 1954–56)
Opus de Jazz (Savoy, 1955)
Ballads & Blues (Atlantic, 1956)
The Jazz Skyline (Savoy, 1956)
With J. J. Johnson and Kai Winding

Jay and Kai (Columbia, 1957)

With Hank Jones

The Trio (Savoy, 1955)

Bluebird (Savoy, 1955)
Quartet-Quintet (Savoy, 1955)
Hank Jones' Quartet (Savoy, 1956)
With John Lewis

Afternoon in Paris (Atlantic, 1957) with Sacha Distel

With Carmen McRae

Carmen McRae (Bethlehem 1954)

With Charles Mingus

Jazz Composers Workshop (Savoy, 1954–55)

With the Modern Jazz Quartet

Modern Jazz Quartet (Prestige, 1952)

Django (Prestige, 1956)
1953: An Exceptional Encounter (The Jazz Factory, 2001)
With Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk Plays the Music of Duke Ellington with Thelonious Monk, Oscar
Pettiford (1955; Riverside)
With Jean-Christian Michel

Sacred Music (1969; Barclay)

JQM (1972; General Records)
Ouverture spatiale (1974; General)
Eve des Origines (1976; General)
Port Maria (1977; General)
With Phineas Newborn Jr.

Here Is Phineas (Atlantic, 1956)

With Sahib Shihab

Summer Dawn (Argo, 1964)

Seeds (Vogue Schallplatten, 1968)
Companionship (Vogue Schallplatten, 1964–70 [1971])
With Zoot Sims

Lost Tapes Baden-Baden 1958 (SWR, 2014)

With Idrees Sulieman

Bird's Grass (SteepleChase, 1976 [1985])

With Cal Tjader

Cal Tjader: Vibist (Savoy, 1954)

With Julius Watkins

Julius Watkins Sextet (Blue Note, 1954)

With Frank Wess
North, South, East....Wess (Savoy 1956)
Opus in Swing (Savoy, 1956)
With Joe Wilder

Wilder 'n' Wilder (Savoy, 1956)

With Ernie Wilkins

Flutes & Reeds (Savoy, 1955) with Frank Wess

Top Brass (Savoy, 1955)
Notes