Clyde Bernhardt, Trombone, 1905, Gold Hill, NC
Clyde was a singer as well as a trombonist. He was born in North Carolina but brought up in Harrisburg, Pa. where he first played professionally around 1923. He moved to New York City in the late '20s and went to work for Joe "King" Oliver, performing and touring. In the early '30s Oliver encouraged Clyde to sing as well as play the trombone. From the mid '30s he worked with bands led by Marion Hardy, Billy Fowler, Vernon Andrade, Edgar Hayes, and Horace Henderson, popular in their era, but faded away long ago. Bernhardt toured with Fats Waller in the early '40s, and also played with Jay McShann and Claude Hopkins during this period. In the mid '40s Clyde had his own group, The Blue Blazers. He recorded with this group and also under the pseudonym Ed Barron. During most of the '70s he led a band known as the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band. Due to health problems Clyde stopped performing around 1984, and passed away in 1986.
Tomasz Stanko, Trumpet, 1942, Poland
While still in Poland, Tomacz formed the quartet Jazz Darlings with Adam Makowicz in 1962. This was one of the first groups in Europe to come under the influence of Ornette Coleman. He played with several popular Polish groups until 1968 when he formed his own band that lasted until 1973. In 1980 he recorded as an unaccompanied soloist at the Taj Mahal and the Karla Caves temple. Tomacz came to the States in the late'70s and began working with musicians such as Chico Freeman, James Spaulding, Jack DeJohnette and Rufus Reid. Technically, Stanko is highly accomplished, playing a form of free jazz that displays both European and American influences.
