St. Louis jazz trumpeter Clark Terry made his first trumpet. His neighbors quickly got tired of listening to the racket, and raised money to buy the 10-year-old a real instrument.
Terry became a legend: He was a star soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra and Duke Ellington Orchestra; he led his own big band; and he was the first black man to play in “The Tonight Show” house band. Terry died Saturday; he was 94.
On Friday, “Cityscape” host Steve Potter talked about Terry's legacy with Dennis Owsley, a jazz historian and host of St. Louis Public Radio’s “Jazz Unlimited”; Gene Dobbs Bradford, president and CEO of Jazz St. Louis; and Jim Widner, director of jazz studies and a professor at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.
Related Events
Byron Stripling in a tribute to Clark Terry
- When: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015
- Where: Harold and Dorothy Steward Center for Jazz, 3536 Washington Ave., St. Louis
- More information
St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, led by Jim Widner, dedicates "Swing This" to Clark Terry
- When: 7 p.m. Tuesday March 3, 2015
- Where: Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis
- More information
“Cityscape” is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer and sponsored in part by the Missouri Arts Council, the Regional Arts Commission, and the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis.
