Happy birthday to the boisterous Clifford Jarvis, stylish drummer of post-bop and free jazz who also worked well with other percussionists. He was from Boston and came from a family of trumpeters. He started playing drums at 10 and studied with Alan Dawson.
Early professional experience with Chet Baker and Randy Weston set him up for some gigs with heavy hitters of the '60s & '70s. Operating out of NYC and Chicago, he played or recorded with a host of amazing musicians: Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Grant Green, John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, Big John Patton, Barry Harris, Yusef Lateef, Curtis Fuller, Elmo Hope, Don Cherry and so many more.
He had a long association with Sun Ra from the early '60s into the '80s. (He was supposedly Ra's favorite kit drummer). He worked with Freddie Hubbard in the '60s, including his classic Hub Tones album. He appeared on Jackie McLean's Right Now in '65. He played with Pharoah Sanders on Thembi and Summun Bukmun Umyun, Sonny Simmons' rare Burning Spirits album and on Alice Coltrane's Universal Consciousness.
In the '70s and '80s he played with Kenny Drew, David Murray, Johnny Dyani, Walter Davis and Archie Shepp before moving to the UK. There he became an educator and also worked with Courtney Pine, as well as his own group Prophets of Jazz. Unfortunately, an illness took him out at the age of 58.