Mike Clark

I've really been digging Mike Clark's insightful (and often humorous!) posts on Facebook lately.

This led me to find some amazing clips of Clark playing and talking about some of his influences and interactions with many of jazz drumming's greats (see my previous post featuring Clark speaking about Tony Williams) as well as demonstrating his incredible technique, musicality and unique style to playing the drums.

Here's an excerpt of Mike from his new instructional series via mymusicmasterclass.com:





As Mike explains, he truly was a jazz drumming product of the 1960s in terms of his style and influences and a bebopper in addition to his immense contributions to funk drumming. Here he is talking about the influence of Elvin Jones:





And here Clark speaks to the great Papa Jo Jones:



Finally, from a masterclass at Drummers Collective in New York City, here's Mike Clark demonstrating some solo ideas over a 32-bar, AABA form: