105 minutes with legendary Clarence "C" Sharpe

UPDATE (June 7, 2012): Bart Egers was so nice to send me a link to the Jazz Loft Project, where you can hear – amongst other interesting stuff from the W. Eugene Smith Collection – a minor blues  with Zoot Sims and Clarence Sharpe, saxophone; Dick Scott, drums; Vinnie Burke, bass, recorded in March 1964. Thanks!

On the internet you unfortunately  will not find a lot of of information about alto saxophonist Clarence “C” Sharpe  (1937–1990). But almost all pages that reference Sharpe use adjectives like legendary and underground.

Clarence “C” Sharpe at the “Tin Palace”, N.Y.C., April 8, 1980.
Photo by Otto Flückiger

Despite the fact that he was first  heard on a Lee Morgan LP for Blue Note (Indeed!, recorded  on November 4, 1956), Clarence “C” Sharpe never had much of a career.

Clarence “C” Sharpe’s first recording session was for
Lee Morgan’s Blue Note LP “Indeed”.

Tom Lord ‘s Jazz Discography just mentions four sessions: the one with Morgan, a session on August 26, 1969 under Archie Shepp’s name for Impulse (For Losers), one in 1984 with drummer Monky Kobayashi’s N.Y. Bebop Band for Paddlewheel. And finally one in January 1985 under pianist Freddie Redd’s name for Uptown.

Sharpe was born in St. Louis and grew up in Philadelphia where he played with people like McCoy Tyner and Philly Joe Jones. He probably already lived in N.Y.C. when he recorded with Morgan in 1956. It is not quite clear why nothing much happened for him after that – but several internet sources mention problems with drugs. For a while (when?) he mostly played in the subways of N.Y.C., at other times he had regular engagements with his own group or as a sideman.

In spring 1980 Clarence “C” Sharpe was playing with his quintet at the “Tin Palace” at 315 Bowery. My friend Otto Flückiger was there on the evening of April 8 (Guenti, were you also there?) and brought his tape recorder with him as well as his camera (click on photos to enlarge):

Lonnie Hillyer at the “Tin Palace”, N.Y.C., April 8, 1980.
Photo by Otto Flückiger

Otto made only one photograph of each band member, except pianist Walter Davis of which he took two and drummer Jimmy Lovelace (none). One of the Davis photos is not too good, so I am only showing the better one:

Walter Davis at the “Tin Palace”, N.Y.C., April 8, 1980.
Photo by Otto Flückiger

Ted Wald at the “Tin Palace”, N.Y.C., April 8, 1980.
Photo by Otto Flückiger

With his small equipment (probably a Walkman) Otto recorded (almost) two sets. As you see the evening’s program consisted of standards and tunes associated with Charlie Parker (on the cover of the tape it looks like Otto associated the wrong titles to these first and corrected them later):

I decided to put the whole 105 minutes Otto recorded that night up here. As you may have guessed, sound quality is so, so. And you will hear some conversations between members of the audience, a lot of tuning and talk on stage between the music. I have decided nonetheless to leave it all in, since I think this tape is a very important document.

Otto missed the beginning of the first track and it took him a few seconds to adjust the microphone. But the sound gets slightly better after that. The player below will give you the whole concert (click the arrows to skip).

You will hear the Clarence “C” Sharpe Quintet playing

1. Cheryl
2. Cherokee
3. The More I See You
4. Constellation
5. Embraceable You
6. Woody’n You
7. Three Little Words
8. A Night In Tunisia

New York Times jazz critic Peter Watrous once (I would like to know when!) called Clarence “C” Sharpe ”the missing link between Charlie Parker and Ornette Coleman”. I think that this is a very fitting description of Sharpe’s truly personal style and I hope there are some people out there who enjoy this rare glimpse into a creative mind as much as I do. And don’t you forget to keep an ear on Lonnie Hillyer and the others!