Stanley Clarke to Receive Miles Davis Award

Stanley Clarke will be honored with the Miles Davis Award at the Montreal Jazz Festival on June 26th, just before his performance with Return to Forever IV. He will be the 18th recipient of the award, which started in 1994 to recognize “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.”

Clarke is the third bassist to receive the Miles Davis Award, following Charlie Haden in 2000 and Dave Holland in 2005. He is seen as a pioneer of the instrument, being the first bassist to headline international tours and the inventor of the piccolo and tenor basses.

“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,” the bassist explains. “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.”