Stanley Clarke did for the bass guitar what Billy Cobham did for modern drumming: he provided a luminous example for an entire new generation of fusion musicians. On top of that Clarke introduced the double bass to a rock-loving audience. In bands like Chick Corea’s Return to Forever, The Clarke/Duke Project and his own groups, he unleashed a real bass revolution. He is the godfather of ‘slapping’ on the bass and he took double bass dexterity to a new level. The trio that Clarke presents at the festival this summer is a very special combination indeed: bass, banjo and violin. Banjo player Béla Fleck takes his instrument, which is mainly used in traditional jazz, back to the world of new, creative jazz. Frenchman Jean-Luc Ponty is the embodiment of the fusion violin.
