# R.I.P. Clark Terry

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-clark-terry/713362>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 22, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-clark-terry/713362 "2015-02-22T19:39:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-clark-terry/713362/1 "2015-02-22T19:39:13Z")

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Clark Terry has died at the age of 94. In his long career he played with Count Basie, Cilfford Brown, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, Quincy Jones, Yusef Lateef, Charles Mingus, Oscar Peterson, Billy Taylor, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and others. He could play in a lot of styles, including big band swing and be-bop. He had an unusual style of scat singing that he developed into a song called “Mumbles.”

Here he is with the Thelonious Monk Quartet playing [Pea-Eye](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5-nzQcPVlk).

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-clark-terry/713362/2 "2015-02-23T17:07:27Z")

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Just saw the obit today. The guy had quite a life, overcoming a poor background to become one of the best trumpet players in the business. Cripes, he was Miles Davis’s _mentor_.

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**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-clark-terry/713362/3 "2015-02-25T19:15:09Z")

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I PLAYED WITH CLARK TERRY ONCE!  
I was in HS and I went to the Wichita Jazz Festival. He was at one of the ‘educational’ parts and after talking a bit to mostly kids my age he played and then asked if anyone wanted to come and play.

I was the only one who did. (I totally sucked)

I used to have his autograph.

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**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-clark-terry/713362/4 "2015-02-26T02:13:13Z")

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Melodic lead genius. Thank you Mr. Terry.

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**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-clark-terry/713362/5 "2015-02-26T18:17:29Z")

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Very sad, indeed. The entire DC jazz community has been mourning his passing.

There’s a 2014 documentary called _[Keep on Keepin’ On](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2674040/)_: “A documentary that follows jazz legend Clark Terry over four years to document the mentorship between Terry and 23-year-old blind piano prodigy Justin Kauflin as the young man prepares to compete in an elite, international competition.” I haven’t seen it yet – I only just learned about it a couple of weeks ago, at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival – but it’s on my list.