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Kenny Clarke, born Kenneth Spearman Clarke (nicknamed "Klook" and later known as Liaqat Ali Salaam) on January 9, 1914 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was a jazz drummer and bandleader, best known as a major innovator of the bebop style of drumming.
In the early 1940s, while working as the house drummer at Minton' s Playhouse (New York City, NY), Clarke participated in the after hours ja ms that led to the birth of Be-Bop, which in turn led to modern jazz. Whil e in New York, he played with many of the major bop style innovators inclu ding Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Curly Russell, as well as musicians of the prior jazz generation, including Sidney Bechet .
Spending his later life in Paris, Kenny Clarke died on January 2 6, 1985.
