Clint Houston

Clinton Joseph Houston(June 24, 1946 – June 7, 2000) was an Americanjazzdouble-bassist.

Houston played withGeorge CablesandLenny Whitein the house band atSlug's,a club inNew York City,then played withNina Simone(1969),Roy Haynes(1969–70),Sonny GreenwichandDon Thompson(1970),Roy Ayers(1971–73),Charles Tolliver(1973–75),Stan Getz(1972–77), andWoody Shaw(1977–79). In 1972 he began collaborating withJoanne Brackeen,working with her through 1986; he also played withPepper Adams(1983),Slide Hampton(1981),Frank Foster(1984–86), andRoland Hanna(1986).

Career

Clint Houston was born inNew Orleans,and spent his early childhood inWashington, D.C.before spending his adolescence inQueens, New York.At the age of 10, he began piano lessons. He started playing jazz in his early teens after hearingCannonball Adderleyon the radio. After being turned down for a pianist role in his high school band, Houston switched to the double bass. Houston began playing in bands outside of high school, withLenny White,George Cables,Billy Cobham,Steve GrossmanandCharles Sullivan,all of whom grew up in the same neighborhood. In his early years, he played in a band called the Jazz Samaritans,playing Latin-style music at local parties and drawing inspiration fromArt Blakey.At the age of 19, Clint Houston won aJazz Interactionscompetition, leading to an encounter withPaul Chamberswho encouraged him to pursue his music further.

After high school, Houston's parents encouraged him to attend thePratt Instituteto studyArchitecture,but he transferred toQueens Collegeto study music before eventually obtaining a degree inGraphic ArtfromCooper Union.During his higher education, Houston spent his weekends playing alongside Cables and White at Slugs'matinées.Their playing impressed the various bandleaders who performed at the club and the three of them began working more extensively with better-known artists.Houston was a founding member of musical co-operative Free Life Communications, alongsideDave Liebman,becoming more immersed in the loft jazz scene of 1970s New York.

By 1972, Clint Houston was playing alongside Joanne Brackeen in Stan Getz' band. Their combined efforts provided a supportive and flexible framework during his live performances. According to journalist Ted Panken:

"Stan explained to me quite a few times backstage atKeystone Kornerthat ‘I have never felt as free and as totally supported as I do with this band with Joanne Brackeen, Clint Houston, andBilly Hart.They are happy and free to go with me wherever I go.'”

Houston and Brackeen's collaborations continued, playing in clubs such as the Surf Maid onBleecker Streetin New York, and appearing in many of Brackeen's early records.

Instruments and playing style

During his time with Roy Ayers, Clint Houston played both electric bass and upright bass, but found that he was increasingly being asked to play electric, to his frustration. He played a clear-bodiedPlexiglaselectric bass,and 'Gertrude,' his Czechoslovakian double bass built in 1940. He found this bass for sale in a recording studio.Houston also learned how to playacoustic guitar,and played it on his albumInside the Plain of the Elliptic(1979) on the title track and on "Geri".

Houston preferred an upright bass with the E and A strings set higher above thefingerboard,for greater resonance, with the G and D strings having a loweractionto aid fast-tempo playing. By 1978, Houston was using Barcus-Berry and Polytonepickupson his double bass. Houston favored a combination of the German and Italian-style finger positionsin his left hand, teaching this hybrid style to his private students.

Houston's bass solos are characterized by rapid, fluid playing. In an interview withDown Beatmagazine, he stressed:

"What I'm really looking for in this instrument and through my kind of bass playing is texture. My notes are very definitely selected, because they have to go through thechanges,but there's a texture I hear. It's like if you play fast enough, you can almost play single notes like achord.If you play anarpeggioon thepianofast enough, it's like you just hit the chord, and sometimes you can just about get it on the bass - at the proper tempo. "

Long-time collaborator Joanne Brackeen said of his playing:

"Clint played a little different from everybody else, and he really liked to solo. He played a solo more like a horn player than like a bass player, but it had a certain rhythm [...] that was what he loved to do, that was his thing. Yeah, no motive other than that."

Personal life

Clint Houston, who had at least one daughter, was divorced.His wife Gerry Houston, who died in 2009, worked the door at theVillage Vanguardand was known for her 'dry, caustic sense of humor' which was useful for dealing with customers at the club.In 2010,JazzTimesdedicated a series of columns profiling 'people behind the scenes' at New York's jazz clubs to her memory.

Discography

As leader

• Watership Down(Storyville,1978) withJohn Abercrombie,Joanne Brackeen,Onaje Allan Gumbs,Al Foster
• Inside the Plain of the Elliptic(Timeless,1979) withRubens Bassini,Ryo Kawasaki,Joanne Brackeen

As sideman

WithPepper Adams

• Conjuration: Fat Tuesday's Session(Reservoir, 1983 [1990])

WithJoseph Bonner

• Triangle(Whynot,1975)

WithJoanne Brackeen

• Invitation(Freedom, 1976 [1978])
• New True Illusion(Timeless, 1976)
• Tring-a-Ling(Choice, 1977)
• AFT(Timeless, 1978)

WithMarc Copland

• Friends(Oblivion, 1973)

WithStan Getz

• The Master(Columbia,1975 [1982])
• Getz/Gilberto '76(Resonance,1976 [2016]) withJoão Gilberto
• Moments in Time(Resonance, 1976 [2016]) with Joanne Brackeen, Billy Hart

WithSonny Greenwich

• The Old Man and the Child(Sackville,1970)

WithLouis Hayes

• Light and Lively(SteepleChase, 1989)
• The Crawl(Candid, 1989)
• Una Max(SteepleChase, 1989)
• Nightfall(SteepleChase, 1991)
• Blue Lou(SteepleChase, 1993)

WithJohn Hicks

• Hells Bells(Strata-East,1980 [1998])

WithTerumasa Hino

• Hip Seagull(Flying Disk,1978)

WithAzar Lawrence

• Bridge into the New Age(Prestige,1974)

WithJohn Scofield

• East Meets West(1977)

WithWoody Shaw

• Blackstone Legacy(Contemporary,1970)
• Rosewood(Columbia, 1977)
• Stepping Stones: Live at the Village Vanguard(Columbia, 1978)
• Woody III(Columbia, 1979)

WithNina Simone

• The Soul of Nina Simone(RCA, 2005)

WithCharles Tolliver

• Live in Tokyo(Strata-East, 1973)
• Impact(Strata-East, 1975)

With Henny Vonk

• Rerootin'(1982)