Today Capri Records released an album whose full title is CT! Adam Schroeder and Mark Masters Celebrate Clark Terry. After a fair amount of search, I have found that the best (if not only) way to purchase this album is through a hyperlink on the Capri product page. Masters is responsible for the arrangements of all thirteen tracks on the album. Playing baritone saxophone, Schroeder is the band leader. All tracks are original compositions by Terry; so readers should be alerted that Track 10, “Michelle,” has absolutely nothing to do with The Beatles!
I was fortunate enough to see Terry in action. He was a “special guest artist” when the Hank Jones Trio gave an SFJAZZ performance in Herbst Theatre on May 29, 2004. He still had over a decade of life to enjoy before his death at the ago of 94 on February 21, 2015. The highlight of that gig was his performance of “Mumbles,” which is probably best described as extreme scat singing. For all of his talents as a trumpeter, that vocal work was totally jaw-dropping; and I doubt that anyone will be able to celebrate his prodigious career by taking on a performance with the caliber of “Mumbles.”
That said, Masters has done a first-rate job in reviving the eleven Terry compositions on this album. I like to think of these tracks as a celebration of the joyous rhetoric that began to fade from popularity with the emergence of the hard bop movement. Mind you, he had no trouble adding hard bop to his repertoire; but CT! revels in a more positive outlook, even on the more sentimental tracks. This album is a joyous reminder that “historically-informed” can be applied to more than any of classical music genres!
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