Looking Through the Keys
Remembering Ken Clarke In Song
\”Summertime\” written by George Gershwin, performed by Ken A. Clarke
Ken Clarke was once hailed as one of the best jazz pianists in the world. He was known for his amazing ability to play as though his hands never touched the keys. There are a lot of things Ken claimed to have done in his life, many of which were completely false. People, however, had a tendency to not only believe his mistruths, but encouraged them by wanting to believe they were true. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people who believed Ken Clarke was a former baseball player, a famous college quarterback, a war hero, divorcee of an esteemed heiress, graduate of music school… He was not any of those things, as far as anyone can ascertain, but he was a great jazz pianist. In fact, he was such an astounding musician, that it most likely says a tremendous amount more about a man who was so extremely talented and yet still felt the need to fabricate his life into something bigger – something better.
This is the story of my grandfather.
From Left to Right: Milton Cross, radio announcer NYC; Arthur Ferrante, pianist; Grace Cataniata, concert pianist;
Louis Teicher, pianist; Ken Clarke, jazz pianist.
Ken was a child prodigy when it came to the piano. When he was five, his mother brought him home a toy piano during her lunch break from the department store where she worked. When she returned home that evening, he had already composed two songs on it; by the age of seven he was performing full recitals and concerts. He had the ability to hear a song once and play it back in its entirety, note for note. Yet, despite all the stories he told to boost his image, he was relatively humble about his ability to play the piano.
Ken achieved a small, nearly insignificant amount of fame – nowhere near as much as his talent deserved. He performed with Art Tatum, Farrante & Tiescher, Charlie Parker, his own band The Ken Clarke Trio, and ironically he played the piano on the original Tonight Show – Steve Allen, the host pretended to play the piano while Ken sat behind the curtain ghost playing. It was fitting, as he always was kind of like the Wizard in Oz.
Although not biologically related, he treated his three stepchildren as though they were his own. “He was just a big, huggable bear,” said my mother, Charlotte, the youngest of the three. For Charlotte’s wedding (above) Ken was the life of the party. From left to right: Ken’s stepson John Shedaker; the groom, Don Rietz; Ken ; and Ken’s eldest stepdaughter’s husband, Frank Pelfrey.
Hear the music and its story:
