Kenny Clarke

Kenny Clarke (born Jan. 9, 1914, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.—died Jan. 25, 1985, Montreuil-sous-Bois, near Paris, Fr.) was an American drummer who was a major exponent of the modern jazz movement of the 1940s. Clarke’s music studies in high school embraced vibraphone, piano, trombone, and theory, but it was as a drummer that he began his professional career in 1930. His experience included engagements with Roy Eldridge, Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, and...