Dial S For Sonny – Sonny Clark
This 12-bar song with a stop-time head is not a blues. It's a classic example of Sonny Clark's writing—and of hard bop in general.
- Recording: Sonny Clark - Dial "S" For Sonny
- Recorded on: July 21, 1957
- Label: Blue Note (BLP 1570)
- Concert Key: F minor
- Style: Swing (medium)
- Trumpet - Art Farmer
- Tenor Sax - Hank Mobley
- Trombone - Curtis Fuller
- Piano - Sonny Clark
- Bass - Wilbur Ware
- Drums - Louis Hayes
0:00
0:00
This song is classic Sonny Clark—simple, bluesy, swinging, and spiced with a few bebop-ish lines. Though the form is twelve measures long, with the last four measures a "turnaround," there is no IV chord and so it is not a true blues. The II-Vs to the relative major, A♭, make this form particularly rewarding to blow on.
About the arrangement: Though there are three horns on the recording, there are only two horn parts; the trombone plays an octave below the trumpet throughout, including the sections where the tenor sax has a harmony part. There is a pedal point intro in the piano and bass, based on the head. After the out head, the bass finishes alone with an eight-measure line. All this is indicated in the Concert Condensed Score.
About the arrangement: Though there are three horns on the recording, there are only two horn parts; the trombone plays an octave below the trumpet throughout, including the sections where the tenor sax has a harmony part. There is a pedal point intro in the piano and bass, based on the head. After the out head, the bass finishes alone with an eight-measure line. All this is indicated in the Concert Condensed Score.
"Dial 'S' For Sonny" was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's legendary Hackensack Studio.
In April of 1957, Sonny Clark arrived in New York from Los Angeles. "Dial 'S' For Sonny" was his first studio album as a leader, and his second album for Blue Note; the first was with Hank Mobley. Except for Mobley, Clark's sidemen here had not recorded with him before. This is the only recording with Clark and bassist Wilbur Ware together; Louis Hayes would go on to record with Clark on albums by Clifford Jordan, Curtis Fuller and Grant Green. Each of the three horn players on "Dial 'S' For Sonny" later played on another Clark album: Curtis Fuller on "Sonny's Crib," Art Farmer on "Cool Struttin'," and Hank Mobley on "My Conception." Clark would go on to play on two Mobley albums and three Fuller albums; one of each featured Farmer.
In April of 1957, Sonny Clark arrived in New York from Los Angeles. "Dial 'S' For Sonny" was his first studio album as a leader, and his second album for Blue Note; the first was with Hank Mobley. Except for Mobley, Clark's sidemen here had not recorded with him before. This is the only recording with Clark and bassist Wilbur Ware together; Louis Hayes would go on to record with Clark on albums by Clifford Jordan, Curtis Fuller and Grant Green. Each of the three horn players on "Dial 'S' For Sonny" later played on another Clark album: Curtis Fuller on "Sonny's Crib," Art Farmer on "Cool Struttin'," and Hank Mobley on "My Conception." Clark would go on to play on two Mobley albums and three Fuller albums; one of each featured Farmer.
Sonny Clark
July 21, 1931 – January 13, 1963
A remarkable composer and pianist whose special touch and articulation makes him instantly recognizable at the piano, Sonny (Conrad Yeatis) Clark recorded so much on the Blue Note label that he was practically their in-house pianist. This hard-bop mainstay was particularly noteworthy for his virtuosic right hand lines. Read more...