Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Limited Edition on 180 gram with OBI Strip
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
This is one of the Rarest Boogie Jazz records ever!
Includes unlimited streaming of Corky McClerkin - "Searchin' For The Soul"
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
This is one of the rarest boogie jazz records ever! Private press - the album includes the Rare Groove classic "Searchin For The Soul.”
His early career follows It follows in the wake of the infectiously funky, blues-based keyboard music exemplified by hard-bop paragons Horace Silver and Bobby Timmons in the 50s and 60s. Not surprisingly, McClerkin listened to those pianists while growing up on Chicago’s south-side; he also heard plenty of Ahmad Jamal (who then lived and worked in Chicago), and Jamal’s trademark airiness occasionally works its way into the mix as well.
Since the 1960's Corky has performed professionally throughout the Chicago area, guided by his mentor, Jazz tenor great Von Freeman, he developed his talents throughout the 1970s while also discovering his passion for writing. As a featured columnist for the Chicago Courier, he was inspired to write Undercurrents (1978), a collection of short stories about the black experience.
In 1981, Corky strengthened his talents by taking on the position of musical director and arranger for the Chicago production of Sasha, Sing Dinah! and wrote “a play, Life Cycles,” performed at the Chicago Cultural Center. In 1983 he built on his experiences by releasing his first album, Searchin' for the Soul (WinCor Records, 1983).
In 2001 The American Biographical Institute included Corky in their edition of the International Directory of Distinguished Leaders. He was also a member of the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE), the American Federation of Musicians, and the World Future Society.
Corky Mclerkin tragically died in 2015 in a car crash with his wife, Winnie Mae.
Official Reissue courtesy of Casemmie Cole-Kweli
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credits
released August 16, 2022
Piano [Acoustic Piano], Electric Piano [Electric Grand Piano], Keyboards [Yamaha], Arranged By, Executive-Producer, Synthesizer [Arp Omni] – Corky McClerkin
Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Ellen Samuels, Reginah Walton
Bongos [Bongo Drums], Congas – Ken Gueno
Drums, Percussion – Curtis Prince
Producer – Edward P. Green III
Producer [Associate Producer] – Curtis Prince
supported by 20 fans who also own “Corky McClerkin - "Searchin' For The Soul"”
Like so many others, this came like a bolt out of the blue and, even though it's well before payday, I had to have this astonishing album on vinyl to prove it exists. The feel of the tunes makes me feel like the Impressions do, Curtis Mayfield, the big spaces and instinctive horns and stuff drifting in and out. Great grooves and I can see lots of ghosts nodding along to this with big smiles on their faces. At last! Anthony Cottrell
supported by 18 fans who also own “Corky McClerkin - "Searchin' For The Soul"”
I didn’t even know I was looking for this record, and then it found me. Holy cow, it’s so great. Drum machine and a variety of keyboards, the occasional overdubbed layers of understated vocals, and little skeletons of songs that sound terrific just the way they are. A minimalist odyssey for sure. Markly Morrison
The opening track on Maulawi’s 1974 LP for the legendary Strata Records gets its funky grooves turned inside-out in these remixes. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 19, 2021