Stanley Clarke

Back in the '70s, when jazz was plugging in and turning up, Stanley Clarke became the bass-playing god of thunder for those who liked a little funk and rock with their bop — all boiled together in a piping-hot blend that could only be called fusion. Steel-fingered Stanley's "School Days" riff, played strumming and chording the bass like a guitar, became the "Stairway to Heaven" of fleet-fingered four-string lovers. "Lopsy Lu" is full of the thick, thumb-slapping bottom end that's another Clarke trademark, with his sweet clouds of melody floating on top at the same time. For all his faster-than-the-speed-of-light chops, though, he could still power a great pop song from the bottom up, like his 1981 hit with George Duke, the sugar-frosted R&B confection "Sweet Baby."

Discover the down-low secrets of Stanley Clarke in Next Steps

From the '70s on, Stanley Clarke's combo platter of fat-back funk, rock peacock strut, and cosmic jazz explorations made him one of the most breathlessly praised, closely studied players around. The jazz genius beneath all the fiery licks comes to the fore when Clarke electrifies the Charles Mingus masterpiece "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," where his fluid lines take the lead. Clarke was an acoustic adventurer, too, and his upright acrobatics on "Spanish Phases for Strings and Bass" are juicy jaw-droppers of the first order. And his titanic talent was a magnet for other maniacal virtuosos, like guitar god Jeff Beck, who helps make "Hello Jeff" an all-out ground war of land-mine bass bursts and dive-bombing lead guitar lunacy.

From the jump, Stanley Clarke strode the boards with both moxie and majesty. A one-man musical melting pot, he pioneered a bass style that matched a dash of Bootsy and a dollop of Mingus with a side order of John Entwistle, defining the fusion sound of the '70s. Along the way, he laid down some monstrous funk jams and sweet R&B grooves, mixing it up with giants like Jeff Beck and George Duke. As one of the players who put the bass up in the forefront, he'll be forever worshipped by those who love a four-string firestorm, and from big-bottomed super-slapping to lava-spewing jazz-rock eruptions, this is where you can get to know the many sides of the man who brought the bottom to the top.