Price: $45.00

Pages: 344

Publisher: University of California Press

Imprint: University of California Press

Publication Date: 08 November 2011

Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in

ISBN: 9780520268463

Format: Hardcover

“In his moving autobiography, Clark Terry tells the story of making his very first trumpet out of scrap metal, which led to school bands, then regional orchestras and eventually gigs with Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Terry also tells a fascinating story about how he broke ground when he joined the NBC Orchestra in 1960, becoming the first black member of that band. His contribution to American music would have been cemented with all of the above, but then he discovered jazz education. Clark is a worthy addition to the canon of race relations in this country and an even better account of a gifted, widely loved man who made this country a better place by simply falling in love with jazz.”

“In his memoir, which has the pulse of jazz's life force, Clark Terry himself exemplifies what he once told me about Duke Ellington: ‘He wants life and music to be always in a state of becoming. He always likes to make the end of a song sound like it's still going somewhere.’ On and off the bandstand, and now at his home with students in Arkansas, he gets inside the jazz life. His choruses in this book will bring readers to his music for generations to come.”

“A disarmingly honest and thoroughly entertaining autobiography. . . . No drug and alcohol sob stories here, just hard work and an exceptionally good nature. This is a sweet read.”

"Clark chronicles, in endearing prose, Terry's personal and professional journey. . . . Onstage and in the backroom, Terry and his trumpet shared a front-row seat to jazz history. . . . [that's] nothing short of that remarkable story.”

“The trumpet grandmaster, who turned 90 this year, addresses the scene with emotion, humor, concision, acuity and analytical discernment. . . . Nothing if not a blues epic, the narrative is also a true-grit portrait of a diligent, inspired artist.”

“Compelling from cover to cover, this is the story of one of the most recorded and beloved jazz trumpeters of all time. With unsparing honesty and a superb eye for detail, Clark Terry, born in 1920, takes us from his impoverished childhood in St. Louis, Missouri, where jazz could be heard everywhere, to the smoke-filled small clubs and carnivals across the Jim Crow South where he got his start, and on to worldwide acclaim. Terry takes us behind the scenes of jazz history as he introduces scores of legendary greats.”

“This is a book that will uplift, inspire, and make you laugh out loud. A life lived this well, with constant integrity, enthusiasm, positive energy and good will is something for which to cheer. The celebration begins when you open the pages.”

“A long awaited story of the great joy of playing the trumpet and making music since the early 1930s. Terry’s book is conversational in style but blunt and exacting in detail about people and dates; he holds nothing back.”

“No doubt because of Terry’s ebullient personality, the text reads just the way he speaks, and has vivid descriptions of people, places and smells, with a knack for folksy similes.”

“Clark is the last survivor of a great jazz age, and thus this book is doubly important. . . . With a subject like this you couldn’t go wrong, and the book is a most satisfying read.”

“A career . . . chronicled with open-hearted charm.”

“Terry’s wonderful book is a true labor of love.”

“This is his story and, in the process, the story of jazz and jazz greats.”

“Terry tells his amazing, finally triumphant, life story in a free-speaking, chatty, direct style.”

“The chapters of his memoir become their own improvisations as one memory keys off another, pulling you into the ‘set’ as if you were sitting at a front-row table, until he circles back to the story at hand. . . . The inside story of modern jazz, told by one of its most revered legends.”

"Informative, detailed, intimate, and throughly absorbing, Clark is very strongly recommended."

“An easy, entertaining and informative volume that will please his fans and introduce budding jazz listeners to his many contributions.”

“[Clark Terry has] changed the institution of jazz education, creating new standards for a performer’s generous relationship with students of all types, and a healthy respect for the place of a thorough education in the evolution of jazz.”

“One feels that even the nearly sixty chapters of narrative are not enough to do justice to such an exceptional career.”

“An important book, an excellent read, a genuine page turner by a dependable, talented musician who achieved worldwide fame as a unique and creative improviser.”

“Storytellers are to be cherished and Clark Terry should be on a pedestal for his thoroughly entertaining autobiography. Brimming with life, love, music, and great characters, this book is as much a history of the twentieth century as it is a history of his ninety years (and counting!).”

“Terry offers a sprightly and readable account of the events, and, more importantly, of the character of the people who helped shape the music. He is a most entertaining companion, someone you come to trust and like immensely—a musician’s musician, obsessed with playing right from the start, always eager to learn more, hone his craft, grow as an artist, then share that knowledge with others.”

Clark Terry (1920-2015) had an illustrious career—as an innovative trumpeter and flugelhornist, horn designer, leading jazz educator, and composer—that covered an epic span of jazz history. Winner of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and an NEA Jazz Master, in addition to many other accolades and awards, Terry was the author of Let’s Talk Trumpet: From Legit to Jazz and The Interpretation of the Jazz Language, both with Phil Rizzo.

Preface by Quincy Jones
Foreword by Bill Cosby
Introduction by David Demsey

1. Big Dreams
2. First Instruments
3. Kicked Out
4. The Vashon High Swingsters
5. First Road Gig
6. Nigga
7. Ida Cox
8. Stranded
9. Lincoln Inn
10. On the Road Again
11. Tennis Shoe Pimp
12. Jailed
13. Len Bowden
14. Navy Days
15. Gray Clouds
16. The Big Apple
17. George Hudson
18. The Club Plantation
19. Galloping Dominoes
20. Tempting Offers
21. Lionel Hampton
22. Road Lessons
23. Pauline
24. Charlie Barnet
25. Count Basie
26. Big Debt
27. Duke Ellington
28. Leaving Basie
29. The University of Ellingtonia
30. Working with Duke
31. Duke’s Team
32. Duke’s Management Arts
33. Miles and Bird
34. Billy Strayhorn
35. Endurances
36. Flugelhorn
37. Europe
38. Norman Granz
39. Norman’s Battles
40. Q
41. NBC
42. Jim and Andy’s
43. Johnny and Ed
44. Mumbles
45. First House
46. Big Bad Band
47. Carnegie Hall
48. Etoile
49. Jazz Education Arena
50. Those NBC Years
51. Storms
52. Black Clouds
53. Keep on Keepin’ On
54. New Love
55. Whirlwinds
56. Through the Storm
57. Second Chance
58. The Biggest Surprise

Acknowledgments
Honors and Awards
Original Compositions
Selected Discography
Index

Photographs follow page 186