Publication Date
11-2023
Document Type
Bibliography
Organizational Units
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Lamont School of Music, Musicology and Ethnomusicology
Keywords
Kenny Clarke, Jazz, Percussion, Drumming
Abstract
Kenny Clarke, born in 1914, is considered a pioneer of an improvised style of Afro-American music known today as Jazz. Clarke grew up in an era before that word. The soundtrack of his youth consisted of military bands, Dixieland, and blues music. The role of the percussionist in these settings were fixed and rigid. They were there to keep the time. Whether it be with a snare drum, bass drum, or small set of cymbals, the drummer’s role in an ensemble was not a dynamic role in any sense. Through the medium of an exciting new style of music later named Bebop, Kenny Clarke liberated not only the role of a drummer from time keeping role, he also developed a new style of “Modern” drumming both sonically and rhythmically through the implementation of the ride cymbal. More specifically, Clarke began taking syncopated rhythms played by horns and the piano, and distributing them around the drum kit while also keeping the time with the ride cymbal. This paper seeks not to distinguish Clarke as a pioneer of Bebop and Jazz drumming, this much has been established already. Instead, the argument will be made that Kenny Clarke developed a method of drumming that develops along with the development of Improvised music of the times, therefore introducing an ever-developing ideology and method of playing that demands constant evaluation in order to achieve the status of “Modern”.
Copyright Date
11-13-2023
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Rights Holder
Author
Provenance
Received from author
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
6 pgs
File Size
86 KB
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Recommended Citation
University of Denver, "Kenny Clarke: The First Modern Drummer in Jazz: Annotated Bibliography" (2023). Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship. 172.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/musicology_student/172