Stanley Clarke's Master Class At The Broad Stage

Stanley Clarke

By Darlene Donloe

Stanley Clarke simply seduced the audience at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

The Grammy winning bass virtuoso, dressed head to toe in black and donning dark black shades and his Stanley Clarke Band were nothing short of amazing Saturday night as he brought the funk - wowing a sold-out crowd with his rapid-fingers flying up and down the board.

Accompanied by a band of all-star musicians including Sadar Nader on tablas, Cameron Graves on keyboards, 19-year-old Jeremiah Collier on drums and Beka Gochiashvili also on keys, Clarke delivered a solid hour and 40-minute set that started off with the upbeat Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.  The four-time Grammy Award-winner who is considered a “living legend,” spent time with the audience on Last Train To Sanity, Chick Corea’s No Mystery and the beautiful, but haunting Sofia, a song he admittedly wrote “a long time ago”.

In a dimly lit theater, it was still easy to see  heads bobbing as they grooved to the trailblazer’s jazz fusion.

About an hour into the show, Clarke introduced the renowned Lyris Quartet who performed a lovely rendition of Ravel’s String Quartet 4^th Movement.  Alyssa Park (violin), Shalini Vijayan (violin), Luke Maurer (viola) and Timothy Loo (cello) also accompanied Clarke on several other songs.

If you’re a music enthusiast and you’ve never seen Clarke in person, you are truly missing out. Watching the recording artist (40 albums), composer, conductor, performer, 65 film scores composer, arranger, and producer do what no other bass player is able to do on the electric and the upright bass is better than eating an ice cream cone on a hot summer day. For anyone who is a student of music, watching Clarke do his thing in person should be a requirement for graduation.

No one does it better than Clarke who gives a  master class every time he performs. A musical innovator Clarke, who is known for his dexterous runs manipulates the bass in such a way that he leaves his fans in awe.

Clarke’s tour band is tight and impressive. Nader is a wonder on the tabla and Collier a star on the drums. Both keyboardists, Graves, and Gochiashvili are worthy opponents. They’re all young. He’s known for giving young musicians a chance – probably because they are the only ones who can keep up with his musical pace.

Clarke, who easily alternates between electric and upright bass, has been entertaining audiences for 40 years. It’s clear he still has a passion and zeal for his music and for performing in front of an audience.

On the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likable), O (oh, yeah) and E (excellent), The Stanley Clarke Band and Lyris Quartet get an E (excellent).