Buck Clarke

Clarke was born in Washington, D.C., on October 2, 1933.^[2][5] At 15, he started working at a display sign store. The father of one of his bosses was a cousin to Duke Ellington,^[5] so Clarke began to listen to jazz records by musicians such as Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Allen Jones and Dizzy Gillespie during lunch breaks and weekends,^[6][5] and he became "hooked on jazz."^[7] He eventually had a job offer at a D.C. club where he learned to play the congas.^[5]

One of his very first gigs was at a show called "Jig Show", which featured dancers and comedians.^[5] Clarke would travel throughout the world, going to places such as New Orleans, where he first discovered rumba music.^[5] Many others tried to encourage young Clarke to play "real instruments", but his position was the bongo drums.^[5]

When he was 16 or 17 years old, he played with Charlie Parker.^[5] Clarke expressed his feelings about performing with Wess Anderson's band The Washingtonians which included Eddie Jones and Charlie Parker, saying it had him "shook up" and describing it as "mind blowing".^[5] He played with Art Blakey's The Jazz Messengers at the age of 19 or 20.^[5] He was a member of an eight-piece band which furthered his musical education.^[5] He also played at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1968.^[2]Clarke played with Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Les McCann, Russ Freeman, Gerald Albright, Jimmy Smith and others.

Clarke was an accomplished freelance painter.^[6] Some of his early artwork is displayed here on his Facebook page.

Clarke suffered from diabetes that cost him his leg in 1986.^[8] He died on October 11, 1988, in Los Angeles.^[3]

• Les McCann
• Freddie Hubbard