found: Grove music online, Mar. 14, 2006:Jazz (Clarke, Kenny (Spearman, Kenneth Clarke; Klook; Klook-mop; Salaam, Liaquat Ali); b. Jan. 2 or 9, 1914, Pittsburgh, d. Jan. 26, 1985, Montreuil-sous-Bois, near Paris; American drummer and bandleader)
found: African American National Biography, accessed June 12, 2015, via Oxford African American Studies Center database:(Clarke, Kenny; Kenneth Clarke Spearman; Liaquat Ali Salaam; bandleader, jazz musician, percussionist; born 09 January, 1914 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States; raised, Coleman Industrial Home for Negro Boys, Pittsburgh; studied at Herron Hill Junior High School but dropped out; played, Leroy Bradley's orchestra, Cotton Club, Cincinnati (1931-1934); vibraphonist, Lonnie Simmons's band, Black Cat, Greenwich Village (1935), Edgar Hayes's band (1937), Teddy Hill's big band; served as the house drummer, Apollo Theater, Harlem (1940); played, Louis Armstrong's big band (1941); toured and recorded with Ella Fitzgerald (1941); led the house band, Minton's Playhouse, Harlem (1941); led his own Kansas City Six, Kelly's Stable, New York; was drafted by the U.S. Army, served in Alabama and Europe (1943-1946); became a Muslim and took the name Liaquat Ali Salaam; made classic bop recordings (1946, 1947), toured Europe (1948) with Gillespie's big band; recorded and helped to organize Paris Jazz Festival, Paris (1948); played and recorded with several bands, United States, toured in Europe (1949); became a heroin addict (1950-1960s); recorded albums with Modern Jazz Quartet (1952-1955); played witn Pettiford's group, Café Bohemia, Basin Street West (1955-1956); played at Club St. Germain, Paris (1957-1958, 1963, 1970s) and the Blue Note (1959-1962, 1964-1966); settled in Montreuil-sous-Bois, France (1962); formed the Clarke-Boland Big Band (1966-1972), recognized as Europe's finest jazz big band; recorded with several artists; taught, St. Germain-en-Laye Conservatoire, the Kenny Clarke Drum School, Selmer musical instrument company, Paris (1967), University of Pittsburgh (1979); participated in Gilliespie's band, Chicago (1976); performed at azz festivals in Europe (until 1983); received a Duke Ellington Fellowship at Yale University (1972) and awards from the cities of Pittsburgh and New York; died 26 January, 1985 in Montreuil-sous-Bois)
