Stanley Clarke Set To Be Honored At Montreal Jazz Festival With Esteemed Miles Davis Award June 26

Stanley Clarke will be the 18th
recipient of the Miles Davis Award at the Montreal Jazz Festival June
26, 8:00 p.m., Salle Wilfrid-Peiletier venue. The Miles Davis Award was
created in 1994 to honor a great international jazz musician for the
entire body of his or her work and for that musician’s influence in
regenerating the jazz idiom.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWE June 17, 2011

Stanley Clarke will be the 18th recipient of the Miles Davis Award at
the Montreal Jazz Festival June 26, 8:00 p.m., Salle Wilfrid-Peiletier
venue. The award will be presented before his festival performance with
Return To Forever. The Miles Davis Award was created in 1994 to honor a
great international jazz musician for the entire body of his or her
work and for that musician’s influence in regenerating the jazz idiom.

“Awards such as this make me remember and appreciate all the work
I’ve done over the past forty-plus years. Personally, I have to thank
those who gave me opportunities such as Horace Silver, Stan Getz, Art
Blakey and Dexter Gordon,” says Clarke. “I also thank my early
collaboration with Chick Corea for laying the foundation to who I am
today as a musician. It is an honor to now be included among such an
acclaimed group of past winners of the Miles Davis Award.”

A polyglot artist, equally fluent in electric and acoustic jazz, with
an unparalleled skill, Stanley Clarke had already been proclaimed a
legend by the age of 25! Clarke led the “bass revolution” of the ’70s,
bringing the instrument to the height of respectability and paving the
way for its use by soloists. Among his many accomplishments, Clarke is
credited with pioneering the slap technique and inventing two new
instruments: the piccolo bass and the tenor bass.

His incredible mastery on both electric and acoustic bass and his
creativity have been recognized with numerous awards and rankings among
the world’s best bassists. This year he won a Grammy Award for Best
Contemporary Jazz Album, The Stanley Clarke Band.

The first bassist to headline international tours, he was sought out
by the likes of Jeff Beck, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards for numerous
projects. He is also a composer, arranger, producer, bandleader and
performer of over 60 film and television scores including Boys N the
Hood, What’s Love Got to Do With It, Romeo Must Die and The Transporter
among so many others.

Not one to rest on the laurels, Clarke launched the Roxboro
Entertainment Group label in 2011, featuring debut albums from guitarist
Lloyd Gregory; multi-instrumentalist Kennard Ramsey; keyboardist Sunnie
Paxson; and keyboardist Ruslan Sirota. His Stanley Clarke Foundation
continues to award scholarships to educate promising young musicians.

Clarke is the latest in a series of Miles Davis prizewinners. He
follows Sonny Rollins (2010), Ornette Coleman (2009), McCoy Tyner
(2008), Mike Stern (2007), Brad Mehldau (2006), Dave Holland (2005),
Keith Jarrett (2004), Joe Zawinul (2003), Chick Corea (2002), Michael
Brecker (2001), Charlie Haden (2000), Cassandra Wilson (1999), John
Scofield (1998), Herbie Hancock (1997), Wayne Shorter (1996), Pat
Metheny (1995) and John McLaughlin (1994)

Celebrating 30 years, Festival International de Jazz de Montreal is
the biggest jazz festival in the world. The Montreal Jazz Festival
annually offers about 500 concerts, of which three-quarters are free of
charge, hosting about 2000 musicians, give or take a few, from over 20
countries. 2 million visitors arrive from all over the planet to an
event which has become the International Jazz rendez-vous and a
laboratory for the creation of new talent.

Stanley Clarke Official Website: http://stanleyclarke.com

Roxboro Entertainment Group Website: http://roxboroentertainment.com

Stanley Clarke Music Foundation: http://stanleyclarke.org