Bass Musician Magazine - SPECIAL August 2014 Female Bassist Issue | Page 150

bassmusicianmagazine.com | aug 2014 | #bassmusicianmag | the face of bass

However, her personal basses include a
Fichterbass electric upright, an Elrick 5
string electric bass, the above-mentioned
turn-of-the century German flat back
acoustic upright, and three ESP electric
basses. Clarke also has a Music Man that
she absolutely loves, however, it is currently
in for repairs. She strings up her upright
basses with Thomastik strings. Her electric
basses are strung up with D’Addario (www.
daddario.com) strings. Clarke’s cabinets for
local gigs are by Flitesound (www.flitecabs.
com) and her neo-dymium speakers are by
Eminence (www.eminence.com).
The amplifiers Kim uses include an Acoustic
Image (www.acousticimg.com) and a
Gallien-Krueger
(www.gallien-krueger.
com) 400RB. For bigger gigs, her backline
requests usually include a 4X10 cabinet
over a 1X15 cabinet. Although Kim claims
not to be a gear head, she really likes the
Trace Elliot AHX 500 head with it’s graphic
EQ with backlighting. She feels that it
allows for quick tone adjustments.
The list of musicians and groups Clarke
has worked with include Joe Henderson,
National Black Theater of Harlem, Kit
McClure Big Band, Yusef Lateef Quartet,
was house bassist for Jazz Cultural
Theater’s “Art Blakey Breakfast Jam”,
Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Heath, Branford
Marsalis, Dr Billy Taylor, Rachel Z, Lionel
Hampton, Edwin Hawkins, Cindy Lauper,
Robert Palmer, Queen Latifah, Lester Bowie
and many, many more.
Kim Clarke is also known as the bassist for
the b