When Stanley Clarke first picked up the acoustic bass, he drew a bow across the strings and was greeted by a terrible sound. Since then, he's made it his mission to make the instrument sing.
By every measure, he has succeeded, not only mastering the acoustic bass but also helping pioneer jazz fusion on electric bass as a cofounder of Return to Forever. He became the first solo bassist to earn a gold record, and after seven decades of playing, the National Endowment of the Arts named him a Jazz Master in 2022.
He's also one of Philadelphia's own.
For our latest Sense of Place series, we talked with Clarke about his partnership with Chick Corea, his early days at Settlement Music School and why he abandoned his goal of becoming the first Black musician in The Philadelphia Orchestra.
This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.
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