I first encountered the rewarding saxophonist and clarinetist Alex Clarke on a wonderful CD led by trumpeter Chris Hodgkins, a loving tribute to Humphrey Lyttelton. Alex’s feature was the ballad WE FELL OUT OF LOVE and it wooed me.
I looked for more of Alex in the usual places, and delighted in this performance:
Another pleasure was an interview Alex did for Vandoren reeds. Civilians may want to skip the advertisement, but Alex comes across wonderfully:
And there’s much more on Alex’s website, including information about her new CD, ONLY A YEAR (Bandcamp). It’s quite wonderful: melodic and swinging, in the tradition without being dusty. Here’s a pretty melody given a new spice profile. Frisky but never disrespectful:
and a song I never pass by:
Incidentally, the liner notes are written by none other than Scott Hamilton, which says how well Alex is regarded by the masters of the art.
When Chris told me that Alex was coming to New York for a visit, we connected, and Alex came uptown for a chat. Since the Vandoren interview covered the familiar questions in chronological order, with Alex’s encouragement, we went far and wide in our conversation. I had only a few areas I wanted to consider: being a female instrumentalist in this century, “the scene” in the UK, and the rest developed organically. You’ll hear that Alex in person is much like Alex the musician: straightforward, easy, thoughtful but never pretentious.
How refreshing to hear someone immersed in both the jazz scene and “the music business” who is so resolutely positive about both. So much of the discourse (or call it “chatter”) that surrounds this music is gloomy: clubs are closing, the pay is poor, the audience is diminishing. But Alex is cheerfully afloat, happily talking about the welcome she’s received as a young woman instrumentalist:
After our half-hour conversation wound down to a pleased silence, I asked Alex to play something for us (for you, for me, forevermore) because she had, on request, brought her alto. She filled the room with a gorgeous, mobile POOR BUTTERFLY:
If you’re like me, you’ll applaud Alex Clarke the improvising saxophonist and the forward-looking young creator. Both aspects give me hope.
Visit her website, follow her on social media, or, even better, go hear her at a club or festival. She is a true talent, someone who’s earned your attention.
A postscript: when Alex and her partner Keith left to have some Harlem soul food, I was annoyed at myself for not taking a few phone-portraits. I asked, and here are the pensive results: Alex encounters Central Park, and the reverse, and don’t miss the yellow shoes!
and
May your happiness increase!
JAZZ LIVES 