Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) – Lopsy Lu (1974)

The great jazz-funk bassist and Return to Forever co-founder wrote this stellar jam for his second solo LP.

Watch full video on Twitter.

View most updated version of this post on Substack.

Legendary jazz-funk bassist Stanley Clarke was one of the founding members of Return To Forever with Chick Corea before embarking on his own lengthy and award-winning solo career.

Born in Philadelphia, Clarke first started playing accordion and violin, but they were too small for him, as he was already over six feet tall at age 12. This led him to take up the acoustic bass. He learned electric bass guitar as a teen.

Clarke joined forces with pianist Chick Corea in 1972 as one of the founding members of the influential jazz-funk group Return to Forever, when he was only 19 years old. Other original members were Flora Purim on vocals and percussion, her husband Airto Moreira on drums and percussion, and Joe Farrell on saxophone and flute. He wrote the title track to their acclaimed second album Light as a Feather, released in 1973, with lyrics by Purim.

His debut solo LP Children of Forever was produced by Corea and released in 1973. For his self-titled second solo LP the following year, Clarke wrote the stellar jam “Lopsy Lu” (1974). The album featured Tony Williams on drums, Bill Connors on guitars, and Jan Hammer on keyboards.

Clarke later wrote the jazz-funk masterpiece “The Dancer” for his third solo LP School Days. The track also featured Ray Gomez on guitar, Mitt Holland on percussion and Gerry Brown on drums. The album was recorded in June, 1976, and released that October. It went to #2 on the jazz charts and crossed over to #34 on the Billboard 200, becoming Clarke’s most successful LP of his career.

#funk #jazz #StanleyClarke