Sample individual
song selections by clicking on titles below:
Stanley Clarke The Toys of Men
HUCD-3128
UPC: 0-53361-31282-4
Release Date:
October 16th, 2007
STANLEY
CLARKE EXAMINES THE FOLLY OF WAR ON
NEW HEADS UP INTERNATIONAL CD
The Toys of Men set for release on October 16, 2007
For centuries, the artist has served as the great counterbalance
to the warrior. When statesmen in opposing camps rattle their
swords and draw lines in the sand, it’s left to the creators
to reach across the borders and hold civilization together.
Such is the climate we find ourselves in at the dawn of the
21st century.
Stanley Clarke, one of the most innovative electric bass players
of the past three decades – an artist and a creator in
the truest sense of the words – examines the emotional
sweep of war in The Toys of Men, his new CD set for worldwide
release on Heads Up International / Roxboro Entertainment Group
on October 16, 2007.
“If you study history, and the history of warfare, it
boils down to some very simple dynamics,” says Clarke.
“When there are disagreements and disputes between countries,
people always go back to their toys and how they can use them
to intimidate their adversaries. This goes all the way back
to the days when we were fighting each other with swords and
shields, and even rocks and clubs. It’s just a part of
human nature, particularly with men. There’s this basic
belief, however flawed as it might be, that the only way you’re
really going to get what you want is by conquering someone or
something. In those moments in history when we’ve been
at war or on the brink of war, the whole idea of just allowing
something to be what it is just doesn’t exist.” read more
STANLEY
CLARKE EXAMINES THE FOLLY OF WAR ON
NEW HEADS UP INTERNATIONAL CD
The Toys of Men set for release on October 16, 2007
For centuries, the artist has served as the great counterbalance
to the warrior. When statesmen in opposing camps rattle their
swords and draw lines in the sand, it’s left to the creators
to reach across the borders and hold civilization together.
Such is the climate we find ourselves in at the dawn of the
21st century.
Stanley Clarke, one of the most innovative electric bass players
of the past three decades – an artist and a creator in
the truest sense of the words – examines the emotional
sweep of war in The Toys of Men, his new CD set for worldwide
release on Heads Up International / Roxboro Entertainment Group
on October 16, 2007.
“If you study history, and the history of warfare, it
boils down to some very simple dynamics,” says Clarke.
“When there are disagreements and disputes between countries,
people always go back to their toys and how they can use them
to intimidate their adversaries. This goes all the way back
to the days when we were fighting each other with swords and
shields, and even rocks and clubs. It’s just a part of
human nature, particularly with men. There’s this basic
belief, however flawed as it might be, that the only way you’re
really going to get what you want is by conquering someone or
something. In those moments in history when we’ve been
at war or on the brink of war, the whole idea of just allowing
something to be what it is just doesn’t exist.”
This recurring phenomenon of human history is the topic of the
album’s title track – a six-part suite and the cornerstone
that opens the 13-song set and spans a range of colors –
from the dark and violent to the uplifting and transcendent.
“When you listen to the song in all of its parts, it has
a lot of different emotions going on in it,” Clarke explains.
“There’s fear, there’s confusion, there’s
chaos, all of those things that we associate with war and destruction.
But at the end, in those segments entitled ‘The Opening
of the Gates’ and ‘God Light,’ there’s
ultimately hope.”
“Come On” and “Jerusalem,” the two tracks
that follow the opening suite, carry a socio-political weight
all their own. “’Come On’ is about letting
go of the things that are holding you back, and finding some
peace within yourself,” says Clarke. “Sometimes
when I’m playing music, I just want to tell people, ‘Come
on, drop the baggage. Drop the negative energy and be more positive.’”
“Jerusalem,” written by keyboardist Ruslan Sirota,
a native of Israel, is a track whose gentle melody transcends
the unrest that has plagued the revered Middle Eastern city
for thousands of years and reconnects with its inherent beauty.
“The middle part of the song reduces to nothing more than
a single tone, and then it rises again,” says Clarke.
“I’ve been to Jerusalem a number of times, and the
song reminds me of a sunset I once saw there.”
Also among the highlights is “All Over Again,” an
immigrant story with lyrics written and sung by up-and-coming
acoustic bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding. The song is
about a friend of Clarke’s who was forced to leave the
U.S. – and the woman he loved – because of his immigration
status. “This couple had been together for a while, and
they were going to get married, but he had to leave,”
Clarke recalls. “From a legal standpoint, there were no
two ways about it. They petitioned the court, but it didn’t
work out in his favor, so he left.”
The Brazilian-flavored “La Cancion de Sofia,” underscored
by the subtle but infectious rhythms of percussionist Paulinho
da Costa, is Clarke’s song to his wife. “She’s
a very interesting woman,” he says. “She’s
very forward thinking, because she’s an artist, yet very
much a traditionalist at the same time. There’s this pull
that she constantly experiences between looking toward the future
and still having these old-school sensibilities at the same
time. This piece just sounds like her.”
Also in the mix are a number of understated acoustic bass interludes,
which collectively represent a relatively new tack for an artist
who has built his reputation on fiery electric bass riffs. “I
actually recorded those tracks in my dining room,” says
Clarke. “It has a very high ceiling and a lot of wood.
I just put the bass in there and rolled tape. I’ve really
been practicing with the acoustic bass a lot in the last couple
years, and I’ve developed some different techniques and
styles. A lot of that has come from touring with Jean-Luc Ponty
and Al Di Meola in Rite of Strings. Working with them, I’ve
developed a way to play the acoustic bass as a truly solo instrument.”
The quiet interludes offer a glimmer of optimism in a moment
of history that is plagued by war and global unrest. Despite
the occasionally bleak subject matter of The Toys of Men, Clarke’s
outlook remains generally optimistic.
“I do believe that civilization is headed toward a golden
age,” he says. “I may not see it in my lifetime,
but I do believe that people approach their differences with
at least a little more civility than they did in earlier centuries.
I think there will come a day when men will in fact drop the
baggage and the negative energy once and for all, put down the
dangerous toys and talk to each other like human beings.”
Bassist Stanley Clarke was barely out of
his teens when he exploded into the jazz world in 1971. Fresh
out of the Philadelphia Academy of Music, he arrived in New
York City and immediately landed jobs with famous bandleaders
such as Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson,
Pharaoh Saunders, Gil Evans, Stan Getz and a budding young pianist-composer
named Chick Corea. All of these musicians immediately recognized
Clarke’s ferocious dexterity and complete musicality on
the acoustic bass. Not only was he an expert at crafting bass
lines and functioning as a timekeeper – in keeping with
his instrument’s traditional role – but the young
prodigy also possessed a sense of lyricism and melody distilled
from his bass heroes Charles Mingus, Scott LaFaro and others,
as well as non-bass players like John Coltrane. Clarke envisioned
the bass as a viable, melodic solo instrument positioned at
the front of the stage rather than in a background role, and
he was uniquely qualified to take it there.
The vision became a reality when Clarke and Corea formed the
seminal electric jazz/fusion band Return To Forever. RTF was
a showcase for each of the quartet’s strong musical personalities,
composing prowess and instrumental voices. “We really
didn’t realize how much of an impact we were having on
people at the time,” Clarke recalls. “We were touring
so much then, we would just make a record and then go back on
the road.” The band recorded eight albums, two of which
were certified gold (Return To Forever and the classic
Romantic Warrior). They also won a GRAMMY (No Mystery)
and received numerous nominations while touring incessantly.
Then Clarke fired the “shot heard round the world,”
the one that started the ‘70s bass revolution and paved
the way for all bassists/soloists/bandleaders to follow. In
1974, he released his eponymous Stanley Clarke album,
which featured the hit single, “Lopsy Lu.” Two years
later, he released School Days, an album whose title
track is now a bona fide bass anthem.
“School Days” has since become a must-learn for
nearly every up-and-coming bassist, regardless of genre. Aspiring
bassists must also master the percussive slap funk technique
that Clarke pioneered as well. While Sly and the Family Stone’s
Larry Graham had already developed a rudimentary slap technique,
Clarke took the idea and ran with it, adapting the technique
to complex jazz harmonies. “Larry started it, but he had
only one lick,” says Clarke. “I took it from there.
A lot of guys could jam all day in E, but couldn’t play
it over changes.”
Clarke became the first bassist in history to headline tours,
sell out shows worldwide, and craft albums that achieved gold
status. At 25, he was already regarded as a pioneer in the jazz
fusion movement. He was also the first bassist in history to
double on acoustic and electric bass with equal virtuosity,
power and fire. In his ongoing efforts to push the bass to new
limits, he invented two new instruments, the piccolo bass and
the tenor bass. The piccolo bass is tuned one octave higher
than the traditional electric bass. The tenor bass is tuned
one fourth higher than standard. Both of these instruments have
enabled Clarke to extend his melodic range to higher and more
expressive registers.
Clarke teamed up with keyboardist George Duke in 1981 to form
the Clarke/Duke Project. Together they scored a top 20 pop hit
with “Sweet Baby,” recorded three albums and continue
to tour together to this day. Clarke’s involvement in
additional projects as leader or active member include: Jeff
Beck (world tours, 1979), Keith Richards’ New Barbarians
(world tour, 1980), Animal Logic (with Stuart Copeland, two
albums and tours, 1989), the “Superband” (with Larry
Carlton, Billy Cobham, Najee and Deron Johnson, 1993-1994),
The Rite of Strings (with Jean-Luc Ponty and Al Di Meola, 1995)
and Vertu’ (with Lenny White, 1999). Clarke’s creativity
has been recognized and rewarded in every way imaginable: gold
and platinum records, GRAMMY Awards, Emmy Awards, virtually
every readers and critics poll in existence, and more. He was
Rolling Stone’s very first Jazzman of the Year,
and bassist winner of Playboy’s Music Award for
ten straight years.
Always in search of new challenges, Clarke turned his boundless
creative energy to film and television scoring in the mid-1980s.
Starting on the small screen with an Emmy-nominated score for
Pee Wee’s Playhouse, he transitioned to the silver
screen as composer, orchestrator, conductor and performer of
scores for such blockbuster films as Boyz ‘N the Hood,
What’s Love Got To Do With It?, Little Big League, Passenger
57, Poetic Justice, The Five Heartbeats, Romeo Must Die, The
Transporter and Roll and Bounce. He even scored
Remember the Time, a Michael Jackson video directed
by Jon Singleton. His scoring can currently be heard on the
series Lincoln Heights for the ABC Family Network.
“Film has given me the opportunity to compose large orchestral
scores and to compose music not normally associated with myself,”
says Clarke. “It’s given me the chance to conduct
orchestras and arrange music for various types of ensembles.
It’s been a diverse experience for me musically, made
me a more complete musician, and focused my skills completely.”
His 1995 release, Stanley Clarke at the Movies, is
a testament to this heightened level of musicianship.
Aside from his various pursuits as a composer, performer and
recording artist, Clarke also heads Roxboro Entertainment Group,
a business venture that includes music publishing for his own
and other musicians’ work, as well as the development
of various projects aimed at music education.
At the turn of the new millennium, after several years of film
scoring, Clarke returned more formally to his first love: performing,
recording and playing the bass. He joined the Heads Up International
label with the March 2007 release of Night School: An Evening
with Stanley Clarke and Friends, a 90-minute DVD that chronicles
the third annual Stanley Clarke Scholarship Concert, recorded
at Musicians Institute in Hollywood, CA, in October 2002. With
guest performances by Stevie Wonder, Wallace Roney, Bela Fleck,
Sheila E., Stewart Copeland, Flea, Wayman Tisdale, Marcus Miller
and more, Night School captures performances that range
from straightahead jazz to full-tilt rock fusion to twenty-two-piece
string arrangements.
Clarke follows Night School with the October 2007 release
of The Toys of Men, a 13-track CD
that examines the emotional sweep of war, and features guest
appearances by vocalist/bassist Esperanza Spalding, percussionist
Paulinho da Costa. The Toys of Men
also includes acoustic bass interludes that provide a stirring
counterpoint to Clarke’s more well known fiery electric
bass attack.
Do you have a friend that would enjoy this release? Please take
a moment to share the excitement. Simply complete the brief
form below and we will send them an email notification. Thanks!
