Washington DC-based, internationally acclaimed jazz vocalist Sharón Clark has worked for over 20 years with DC jazz pianist, educator and music director, Chris Grasso. Clark has not only won a Bistro Award for Best Vocalist, but has won the Gold Medal and $10,000 top prize at the Savannah Music Festival’s American Traditions Competition and took first place in the Billie Holiday Vocal Competition. She’s also made multiple international tours in recent years, making her debut in Israel and returning to Russia, where she has developed a major following. In DC, Clark appears regularly in DC at Blues Alley and Loews Madison Hotel and is a featured soloist with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra.
The classically trained Grasso, aside from serving as Clark’s music director, specializes in working with vocalists. He has performed with Nicole Henry, Buck Hill, Nicki Parrott, Ken Peplowski, Bucky Pizzarelli, Chuck Redd, Joshua Redman and Frank Vignola to name a very few. He has appeared at leading venues including Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, the Kennedy Center, Blues Alley, Bohemian Caverns and the Iridium, as well as festivals in the U.S. and overseas. Between college and his jazz career, Grasso took an eight-year break from music, working as a journalist and earning a law degree from the University of California-Berkeley.
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks Sharón Clark (SC) and Chris Grasso (CG) Six Questions:
NLE: How vibrant is the current jazz scene in DC? Has it diminished, improved?
SC and CG: COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the DC jazz scene, but musicians are doing everything they can to keep the music going—everything from live streaming concerts to outdoor performances.
NLE: Native son Duke Ellington is, to quote his designation of extraordinary talent, beyond category. Does he receive his due adequately in his hometown as an American icon?
SC and CG: We’re fortunate to have champions of Duke Ellington working on his behalf. DC musicians regularly perform his music, and we have the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, and Jazz Appreciation Month, which was founded by Ellington biographer Dr. John Hasse. But Ellington’s legacy can always use more support. We’ve even heard people suggest that if DC ever gets statehood that it be renamed “Ellingtonia.” We’d love that!
NLE: What can jazz teach us about Black Lives Matter? Can jazz have a bigger, more profound impact on #BLM?
SC: In 1988, Congress passed HR-57, which designated Jazz as a National Treasure. It’s the only music solely created in the United States. The hearts and souls of slaves were poured out in slave cabins and cotton fields. Music was the only way for them to have their own freedom of speech. My aim—especially in this country, where Black Jazz artists seem to have to taken a “backseat” to White players—is to get an equal platform for performing and pay. My biggest concern is keeping the art in its truest form. I want to continue to promote the authenticity of the hearts and souls of my ancestors through me and beyond. BLM goes across the board including the very music my people invented. It’s a shame—I don’t even have to explain this in Europe.
CG: I recently saw a quote from an African American musician: “Everybody wants our rhythm until it’s time to have our blues.” If we love jazz—or any of the countless other contributions made by African Americans to our nation and culture—how can we not care about the injustice African Americans face? It makes no sense.
NLE: What it is about your musical partnership that’s most exciting?
SC: My musical partnership with Chris has worked for almost 20 years. It’s lasted longer than my marriage! We have a mutual respect for each other. He keeps my socks up. I don’t have patience for details and I certainly lack tact when dealing with B.S. club owners and promoters. Grasso has a much higher sense of decorum. He’s trustworthy and we listen to each other.
CG: For me, it’s imagining a new song, or a particular program, and then seeing it develop over time. Sharón is a storyteller, and helping her tell those stories is really fulfilling.
NLE: What do you strive to achieve in your performances?
SC: I strive to present what real jazz is. Jazz isn’t about being splayed across a piano half naked trying to drive sex. Jazz done well is sexy. It can stand on its own.
CG: Ideally, total immersion—getting to a point where it’s no longer necessary to think about the logistics, and just being able to play. That doesn’t always happen, but that’s the goal.
NLE: How can we best keep the music playing—to keep jazz and the American songbook alive among young people?
SC: I’ve had the greatest success with the younger generation hands on. When parents bring them to live shows, it has the biggest impact. The young ones are in awe of acat singing. It touches their sense of creativity. They want to do it too!
CG: The more young people experience live jazz in person, the better. The energy, and the personal connection to the music, is what will help draw them in.
Watch The Sharón Clark Quartet with Chris Grasso live-stream Anatomy Of A Love Affair on Sunday, August 2 at 7 pm ET. The live stream link will be posted about an hour prior to performance time on both Facebook and at the Blue House Productions YouTube page.
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