Sonny's Crib

Leonard Feather had known Sonny Clark since January 1954, when Clark came east with the Buddy DeFranco Quartet to join a package Feather had put together for a tour of Europe. There were three pianists on the bill, and Clark, at 22, was the youngest. In three and a half weeks of concerts, Feather writes in the original notes, he never heard him play badly, not even after a cold 300-mile bus ride through a German winter. Feather describes him as

a short, sad-eyed, pensive little man who comes alive when he sits at the piano.

Leonard Feather, original liner notes

Feather thought then that Clark was ready for his own album. Instead he went back to California, stayed with DeFranco for a time and spent a year at the Lighthouse. In 1957 he came east again, and Alfred Lion recorded Dial "S" for Sonny in July.

Six weeks later he was back at Van Gelder's in Hackensack, on Sunday, September 1, 1957, with Lion producing. The front line was Donald Byrd on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone and John Coltrane on tenor, with Paul Chambers and Art Taylor behind them. Clark told Feather he had long admired Coltrane but had never worked with him before, and that it went well. Eight takes were made, and five tunes went on the record.

Side one is three standards. "With a Song in My Heart" is stretched to 64 bars a chorus: Byrd, Coltrane, Fuller and Clark take whole choruses. Kurt Weill's "Speak Low" opens with a Latin-tinged ensemble, and Coltrane solos first. Harold Arlen's "Come Rain or Come Shine" is slow, with Fuller on the melody and Chambers bowing on the tag. Feather points out something unusual: nobody trades fours anywhere on the record.

Side two is Clark's. "Sonny's Crib" is a blues with an eight-bar release, more than 13 minutes long, with solos from Coltrane, Fuller, Byrd and Clark and a plucked solo from Chambers. "News for Lulu" is a minor theme over a left-hand riff, and Clark goes first. Lulu was a dog, Feather explains.

Lulu is a half-chow and half-German shepherd

Leonard Feather, original liner notes

Clark had had to leave her in California.

The sleeve is Reid Miles's design, with photography by Francis Wolff. The record came out in March 1958, and the title tune and "Speak Low" also went out on 45s. Down Beat's Martin Williams gave it two and a half stars.

Two weeks after this date, Coltrane, Fuller and Chambers were back at Van Gelder's for Blue Train. Alternate takes of three tunes from this session waited for the CD.