This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, April 14, 2011 - Legendary horn player Clark Terry returns home this Friday and Saturday, April 15 and 16, to perform as a special guest artist with the University of Missouri-St. Louis Jazz Ensemble directed by Jim Widner.
Terry was born in St. Louis in 1920 and went on to become one of the most famous jazz musicians of his era - thanks to his amazing talent on trumpet and flugelhorn, his dedication to his music, and a winning personality and charm that millions got to know beyond the jazz world through Terry's appearances on NBC-TV From 1960-70 as a featured member of Doc Severinsen's band on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show."
Recently I caught up with Terry on the phone from his home in Arkansas, where he spends most of his time due to recent health issues. At the age of 90, Terry still teaches music to promising young students, but they come to him these days.
I have been lucky enough to interview and meet Terry several times over the past 25 years, and although physical ailments have taken their toll on him, Terry's memory, his genuine love for music - and people - and his sense of humor still came shining through.
In a rambling conversation, Terry touched on memories of growing up and playing music in St. Louis, his apprenticeship with bandleaders here such as Eddie Randle, and his famed "Mumbles" routine, which made him famous on the Carson show.
"They used to do a thing on Johnny's show called 'Stump the Band, which we actually started to fill in time when the TV commercials ran," recalls Terry. "Johnny or Doc would ask someone from the audience to yell out a song, and then the band would have to play it. Between the guys in the band, we know most everything, but every now and then, they would ask for something no one was familiar with. So the band would play some blues, and I'd just start singing, making up lyrics - and words - as I went along. It became a lot of fun, and eventually it became a regular part of the TV show."
Terry's "Mumbles" routine, which he eventually recorded and which still has audiences rolling in the aisles with laughter when he does it live, has its roots in the music Terry heard growing up in St. Louis.
"When I was first going out and hearing music in St. Louis, there were a lot of joints that had a piano player who would sing the blues," recalls Terry. "And if you bought him a glass of beer or a drink and put it on the piano, it was good times - he'd play anything you wanted to hear. But after a few beers too many, some of those piano players wouldn't remember the lyrics and they'd just start making them up ... or mumbling to get through. So I remembered that, and thought I'd have some fun with it. People seemed to like it."
I then reminded Terry that he had once told me about making his first horn himself, and asked if he could retell that story. Terry grew up with six siblings, and there wasn't money to spare on musical instruments growing up. So Terry's innate creativity and love for music came to the fore at the age of 6.
"Back then in St. Louis, they had drum and bugle corps in each neighborhood," he says. "The groups would march and play every chance they got, and I loved to hear them. I wanted my own horn, but my family couldn't afford it. So I took some garden hose and hooked up a metal funnel on the end for the horn. I annoyed my family and neighbors to no end with that thing."
Thankfully, Terry eventually got a horn, one given him by an older musician, and the rest, as they say, is history. After being in the band at Vashon High School, Terry playing with area band's such as Eddie Randle's Blue Devils, where he met a teenage horn player named Miles Davis.
After playing in the band at the Great Lakes Naval Training center during World War II, where he played with musicians such as Gerald Wilson and longtime friend Ernie Wilkins, Terry returned to St. Louis to play in George Hudson's Orchestra before joining the Count Basie Band in 1948.
Terry later moved to join Duke Ellington's band in 1951, where he remained until his stint with the "Tonight Show" band. Over the course of his seven decade-plus career, Terry has appeared on more than 900 recordings, including nearly 100 as a leader - highlighted by such critically acclaimed albums as "Serenade To a Bus Seat," "In Orbit," "Oscar Peterson and Clark Terry" and many others.
Terry has been named a Lifetime Grammy Achievement Award winner, an NEA Jazz Master and has toured the world many times over. His long-awaited autobiography, "Clark," published by the University of California Press, will be out this fall. But our conversation earlier this week ended as it always has before - with talk of returning home to St. Louis.
"It's always good to get back home," concludes Terry. "Make sure you say hello to all my musical buddies back there ... especially to my old homie, Don Wolff. It's going to be fun."
Terry Perkins is a freelance writer who has long covered music.