Kenny Clarke (January 2, 1914January 26, 1985), born
Kenneth Spearman Clarke, nicknamed "
Klook" and later known as
Liaqat Ali Salaam, was a
jazz drummer and
bandleader. He was a major innovator of the
bebop style of drumming. As the house drummer at
Minton's Playhouse in the early 1940s, he participated in the after hours jams that led to the birth of Be-Bop, which in turn led to
modern jazz. While in
New York, he played with the major innovators of the emerging bop style,
Charlie Parker,
Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk,
Curly Russell and others, as well as musicians of the prior generation, including
Sidney Bechet. He spent his later life in
Paris.