Raw musical talent is in abundance across Santa Monica’s student bodies. To mold the young talent into true musical masters, two local campuses have called upon a true icon of the business, someone who answers the call on and off the stage.
This past week, jazz band students at Santa Monica High School and Santa Monica College began collaboration with Stanley Clarke, a standard-bearer for jazz bass during his 50-year career. Clarke’s impeccable skill with both acoustic and electric bass has sold out shows across the globe, and has earned the veteran countless accolades. The four-time Grammy Award winner recently reached an agreement with BroadStage for a three-year residency, which includes mentorship opportunities with SMC and Samohi students.
Though his own accomplishments are numerous, Clarke’s commitment to the next generation of musicians remains paramount. For 17 years, the bassist and wife Sola have run The Stanley Clarke Foundation, offering scholarships to upcoming talents. His partnership with Santa Monica schools is an extension of this passion, making sure music moves forward and can retain a sense of humanity in an uncertain age of new technologies.
“My little push for balance is to make sure … that we don’t lose the concept and idea of a kid learning an instrument, studying that instrument, learning the music,” Clarke said.
Whether or not a student decides to take a professional career path, he added, the melodies created in SMC and Samohi band halls can still be shared with family and friends. The benefits of musical education also go beyond the notes, as he says students can learn focus, an appreciation of the arts, and figure out what achievement means at a young age.
The jazz bands at SMC and Samohi are beginning to craft their unique renditions of Clarke’s compositions, eventually culminating in performances alongside some of Clarke’s comrades in the industry. His end goal is to build up to a Santa Monica jazz festival at BroadStage, spreading the sounds that made him a legend with the entire area.
“Getting to hear Stanley perform at the height of his power as an instrumentalist and composer … will be an absolute joy,” BroadStage Artistic and Executive Director Rob Ballis said. “To know he will be a thought partner, curator, and mentor as we vision our future commitments to jazz is yet more exciting.”
Transitioning from performing his own compositions to teaching them has been an interesting balance for Clarke, who is riding the line between a hands-on approach and letting students figure out their own sound.
“Getting a kid to do something … it’s not like you’re forcing him, but you’re steering him in the right direction,” Clarke said. “And (the kid) gets it, he’s able to play with the group. It may take him five minutes, or may take another day to see ‘oh wow, (the teacher) was right’ … you still arrive at the same place, but you know, you have a balance.”
Choosing the compositions themselves also required brainstorming, picking the pieces based on the student skill sets available to him.
“You have to pick something and make sure that it can be played,” Clarke said. “I’m happy to say that there’s quite a bit of these guys (that) can play. It just takes rehearsal … we’re going to have songs that will be very comfortable … myself along with the teachers and instructors will make sure that this is going to be really great and fun. It has to be fun and exciting.”
He notes that his training techniques for SMC and Samohi are very similar, as the transition between high school and college band is not a “quantum leap.” The mastering of fundamentals is his top goal, making “better players” through the “fun kind of science” of studying instrument mechanics. Teaching fundamentals about chords and which notes work with certain scales can improve improvisation skills, a hallmark of the jazz genre, as students are not “blindly going” through his compositions.
The fundamentals of the genre also allow for skills that can translate beyond the band hall.
“It doesn’t take long for (a student) to master all those things, it really splits your mind down in a beautiful way into 2, 3, 4, 5 different parts,” Clarke said. “That’s why … there are many studies (that) show that people that study music when they’re young, when they get older, they’re very good at mathematics, they’re easy to multitask, and they can really handle pressure.”
Clarke’s multi-faceted career has taken him from the studio to the screen. His studio work has produced over 40 albums at the highest level, including the 2011 Best Contemporary Jazz Grammy Award for The Stanley Clarke Trio, and the 2012 Best Jazz Instrumental Album Grammy and Latin Grammy awards for his work with fusion group Return to Forever. In 2022, Clarke was bestowed the highest honor for jazz artists in the United States, a Jazz Master honoree selected by the National Endowment for the Arts.
For the big and small screens, he has composed over 70 movie and television projects, including “The Transporter,” Tina Turner biopic “What’s Love Got To Do With It” and 1991 classic “Boyz N The Hood.”
A half-century later, his exploits have landed the legend at SMC and Samohi campuses to equal local acclaim.
“BroadStage has always been mindful to serve the (educational) community which attracts students from all over Los Angeles, the U.S. and the world,” said Santa Monica College Superintendent and President Dr. Kathryn E. Jeffery. “This season, with the three-year Stanley Clarke residency, our student performers will have direct experiences training with and learning from a true jazz icon.”
