Spencer Clark

If anything, Spencer Clark is a near mystical figure whose talents would greatly inspire later generations of multi-instrumentalists in creative music. He was an early master of the bass saxophone, thus a hero to many reed players who have set out to conquer instrumental territories at the extreme ranges of pitch. Clark also ignored traditional boundaries within instrument families that might keep a drummer playing only percussion instruments or a brass player puckering up his lips. Clark was a string player, including mandolin as one of his earliest instruments and string bass much later on . He also played cornet and trumpet and as for reeds, he began with clarinet. This was the instrument family with which he did his professional gigs--by then he was on C-melody sax, the year was 1923 and the location was New Rochelle, New York. It was the virtuoso Adrian Rollini that inspired Clark's interest in what is almost the lowest and largest of saxophones. Both the former maestro and his young protege performed in movie theatre orchestras. In 1925 and 1926, Clark would often substitute for Rollini himself in the recording band the California Ramblers. In the mid '20s Clark was also performing with Joe Tenner's Stage Band and bandleader George Carhart, the latter presenting a ticket to faraway places via his regular stints on ocean liners. In 1928 Carhart took Clark to Europe in an excellent band that also included Bud Freeman and Babe Russin. Clark would also gig with Danny Polo while sampling the European lifestyle as well as the Berlin-based Julian Fuhs. Clark was more and more able to provide his employers with a variety of instrumental talents. A gig from the spring of 1929 shows instrument cases coming up like daisies in a garden, Clark covering bass sax, guitar and...