Bass Musician Magazine - SPECIAL August 2014 Female Bassist Issue | Page 149

In addition to performing, composing and
teaching, Kim also is the co-founder and
producer of The Lady Got Chops (www.
ladygotchops.com), an annual women’s
music and arts festival during the month
of March - Women’s History Month. This
organization has been funded through
generous donations and has flourished
for more than a decade under Kim’s
leadership. (Please scroll to the bottom of
www.ladygotchops.com to give a donation
of any amount). Clarke has also had a
strong affiliation with Women In Jazz
(womeninjazz-nyc.org), another fantastic
organization.
Kim’s father, Henry Clarke, and her
grandfather, trombonist Henry “Hy” Clarke
were Kim’s earliest influences. Kim’s father
grew up around guys like Max Roach,
Wynton Kelly, etc. He was in the habit of
listening to jazz records before going to
work in the mornings. Kim’s grandfather
was a vaudeville trombonist.
Kim was encouraged to pluck the strings of
her grandfather’s upright bass at the age of
two. Eventually she bought her first bass
guitar from a friend who worked in a music
store for the princely sum of $15.
Clarke’s college education started at
Michigan State University.
For her
sophomore (second) year, Kim transferred
to Bennett College in Greensboro, North
Carolina. While at Bennett College, Kim
learned about the Jazzmobile Program
(www.jazzmobile.org) in New York from

other musicians. The Jazzmobile Program
is the first U.S. not-for-profit arts and
culture organization created specifically
for jazz performance and education.
For her junior (third) year, Kim transferred to
City College of New York where she joined
the music program. This also allowed her
to be closer to the Jazzmobile Program
where she took advantage of the training
offered by the program.
Kim is a three time scholarship recipient
from the National Endowment for the Arts.
These scholarship awards allowed her to
study with such jazz luminaries as Ron
Carter, Buster Williams and Lyle Atkinson.
It was through the Queens, New York
musician, educator and friend, Enos
Payne, that Clarke first met the famed jazz
educator Barry Harris. After studying in
his workshops, Kim eventually got a gig
in Barry Harris’s Jazz Cultural Theater jam
session house band. This allowed her to
play with an impressive list of jazz greats,
which included Art Blakey, Woody Shaw,
Eddie Harris, Clifford Jordan and many
more. She even got to play with Sarah
Vaughn at a jam session in Finland.
It was while she was attending City
College in New York when she bought her
first acoustic upright bass from another
student. It was a turn-of-the-century flat
back German bass. It was one of the first to
be used in a radio recording in the United
States.
Kim is not currently in an endorsement
relationship with any bass companies.

bassmusicianmagazine.com | aug 2014 | #bassmusicianmag | the face of bass

is at home playing everything from ballads
to Hard Bop.