Early life and career (1914–1935) Clarke was born in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 9, 1914. He was the younger of two sons born to Martha Grace Scott, a pianist from Pittsburgh, and Charles Spearman, a trombonist from
Waycross, Georgia. The family lived on Wylie Avenue in the
Lower Hill District of Pittsburgh. Spearman left the household to start a new family in
Yakima, Washington. Scott, who began a relationship with a Baptist preacher shortly afterwards, died suddenly in her late twenties when Clarke was about five, leaving him an orphan. He and his brother were placed in the Coleman Industrial Home for Negro Boys. After trying a few
brass instruments, Clarke (at the urging of a teacher) played
snare drum in the orphanage's marching band at about age eight or nine. He also played the piano, on which his mother had taught him some simple tunes, as well as the
pump organ at the parish church, for which he played hymns and composed pieces that were introduced there. At age eleven or twelve, Clarke and his brother resumed living with their stepfather, who did not look favorably upon music or associating with those involved with it. Clarke dropped out of Herron Hill Junior High School at 15. Around the same time, their stepfather threw Clarke and his brother out after an argument. Clarke was placed in a
foster home without his brother, where he lived for about a year until his 16th birthday. In his book ''Drummin' Men: The Heartbeat of Jazz'', music critic Burt Korall writes of this time period: He was encouraged in these endeavors by composer/arranger
Joe Garland, who gave him the band's trumpet parts, and suggested that he play along with the brass when he felt it necessary to emphasize or support their lines. Clarke spent eight months playing drums and the vibraphone in
Claude Hopkins's group, before Gillespie gave Clarke an opening to join the
Teddy Hill band in the
Savoy Ballroom in 1939. On the
bass drum, he played irregular accents (dropping bombs) while using the
hi-hat on the backbeats, adding more color to his drumming.
Military service and later career in the United States (1943–1956) Clarke was drafted into the
US Army and reported for induction in 1943. During his
basic training in 1944, he married singer
Carmen McRae. He went
absent without leave for nearly four months, during which time he played with
Cootie Williams and
Dinah Washington, before being arrested and sent to Europe. He eventually joined
Special Services, where he led and sang in chorales and performed on drums, trombone, and piano in various bands. While in Paris, he met pianist and arranger
John Lewis, with whom he began a long association. Upon returning to New York in 1951, he toured with
Billy Eckstine, and made recordings with saxophonist
Charlie Parker's quintet and
Milt Jackson's quartet. Jackson's ensemble, which included Clarke's friend John Lewis, became the
Modern Jazz Quartet, and he performed with the group at the first
Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 and recorded for their albums
Modern Jazz Quartet (1952),
1953: An Exceptional Encounter (1953), and
Django (1953–1955). He left the ensemble in 1955, saying "I wouldn't be able to play the drums my way again after four or five years of playing eighteenth-century drawing-room jazz". and ''
Walkin''', along with 1959's
Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants. Korall described these recordings as "his best work of the 1950s – perhaps of his entire career", writing: "Clarke follows feelings, lives inside the pulse, defining the contours, dynamics, and implications of each solo and each piece. Like
Dave Tough, he is a totally unselfish player – nonintrusive yet spirited and spiritual." During this period he was the resident drummer and a talent scout for
Savoy Records, introducing the label to artists such as saxophonists
Cannonball Adderley and
Pepper Adams, and trumpeter
Donald Byrd. In 1967, he began teaching at the
Saint-Germain-en-Laye Conservatoire (where he worked until 1972). Clarke had a period of convalescence after a heart attack in 1975, before going to Chicago in September 1976 for a reunion of Gillespie's big band. In 1979, he taught jazz at the
University of Pittsburgh as a substitute for his friend
Nathan Davis. He continued to perform at European jazz festivals until 1983 and made his last performances at a five-night-a-week engagement in December 1984. On January 26, 1985, he died of a second heart attack at his home; he was 71. ==Recognition==