He's been singing about his "school days” for more than 40 years - to the delight of generations of bass players - but his fingers still race just as fast across the strings as he plays grooves that have lost none of their liveliness in compositions that still retain their old thrill. A mainstay of Return to Forever, Stanley Clarke has also partnered with Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, the Police, Herbie Hancock and others, while also composing music for many films, including Boyz N The Hood. All told, his career has netted him four Grammy awards and a host of gold and platinum records and Emmy nominations, with a wide range of magazines proclaiming him "bassist of the year”. Clarke's most recent solo record, titled Up, sets a high standard that befits both his musicality and the diversity of his playing, as well as the enjoyment value of the music, the excellence of his collaborators and the freedom with which the album explores new musical realms. Two of the members of the band coming to Müpa Budapest with him also play on it: drummer Michael Mitchell, who by age 17 was performing together with Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride and Gerald Clayton, and Beka Gochiashvili, who was discovered by Return to Forever drummer Lenny White. At all of 24 years of age, this Georgian-born pianist has earned his spot as a core member of the Stanley Clarke Band with his incredible technical skill and the highly mature working of his mind. Cameron Graves, the other keyboardist, made a similarly meteoric appearance on the - nowadays closely watched - West Coast jazz scene a few years back as a regular partner to saxophonist Kamasi Washington. There won't be any conflicts at this concert!

Presented by: Müpa Budapest