Students learn from jazz legend Mike Clark – May 3, 2010

Bay Minette, Alabama– The Faulkner State Community College Jazz Band had plenty to toot their horn about after meeting New York drummer Mike Clark on April 6.

“Everyone from Britney Spears to Prince uses his drum tracks,” said Rebecca Barry, who directs the College’s band under the supervision of Leslie Simmons, Fine Arts Division Chair.

Clark has played with artists such as Herbie Hancock, Tony Bennett, Wayne Shorter and Phil Collins, to name a few.

Barry and Clark played in Hancock’s band Headhunters together on and off for two years. She asked Clark to visit Faulkner State when she heard he was playing gigs in New Orleans.

“I have known Mike for over five years, and we recorded a CD with him in 2005,” Barry said.

Clark held a free clinic for the students and shared his expertise in musical rhythms in Latin, Funk and Jazz genres.  Clark also shared experiences about his musical career and the musicians he encountered through the years.

Local musicians attended Clark’s clinic in the Performing Arts Center.

“I can’t say enough about Mike taking time to give an almost impromptu clinic to all the local drummers and anybody else who wanted to attend,” Henry Jolley, a member of the Ted Scallan Band, said.  “My band is working out of Pensacola and New Orleans. We play blues and what we call ‘jiggy’ blues with a New Orleans bent to it. To sit and watch at such close proximity to a legend is quiet rare and also it was FREE.”

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