Mike Clark's Prescription Renewal

March 11, 2001

The Magic Bag

Ferndale, MI

Drummer Mike Clark brought his all-star Prescription Renewal Tour to Ferndale’s Magic Bag on Sunday night for an evening of inspired jazz improvisation. Clark is best known for playing with Herbie Hancock during his Headhunter’s years. Right now he is promoting his newest CD entitled, Actual Proof. For this tour Clark enlisted one of the most incredible line-ups of young, jazz/funk talent that one can imagine. Former Greyboy All-Star and current leader of the 20th Congress, Robert Walter, handled keyboards. On saxophone was the ubiquitous, Skerik. Scratching and providing samples was turntablist, DJ Logic. Rounding out the line-up was 8-string guitar wizard and frequent Mike Clark collaborator, Charlie Hunter .

For me this line-up was almost too good to be true and I worried that the band might suffer from a sort of "too many leaders" syndrome that many all-star conglomerations seem to exhibit. Initial reviews from the tour have been a little luke-warm so I was excited, but slightly skeptical as I took my seat at the Magic Bag.

The opening band was an excellent 4-piece, funk/R&B ensemble called the Sugarman Three. Mostly they mined 60’s soul territory that featured heavy echoes of the Stax sound propagated by bands like Booker T. & the MGs. Their set was a pleasant surprise and I would definitely try to see them again as headliners at a club.

After a short break the Prescription Renewal Band meandered on stage and began to pick up their instruments. Clark is the obvious leader of the band. He is a generation older than the other players on the stage and also wrote much of the material that they performed, with the exception of several Herbie Hancock songs. The band started right in and seemed to be "on" from note # 1. Skerik had a prominent role on many of the tunes as he lead the songs with his incredible improvised solos. Most of the songs were from Actual Proof, but almost all of the tunes opened up into free form jamming. I have seen Skerik play with 5 different bands now, including Critters Buggin’, Tuatara, Galactic, Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade and now this band. In every one of these groups he has stood out as an incredibly dynamic talent. Tonight was no exception, as I was again impressed by his mastery of all genres of saxophone. This night’s music allowed him to showcase his more lyrical and softer soloing, although he also toyed with his trademark squeaks and honks.

This was my first time seeing Robert Walter in a live setting although I have been enjoying his newest album Money Shot since last fall. He mostly laid back and provided color on his B-3, but when he was called upon to solo he really cut loose. He and Skerik in particular seemed to enjoy their interplay.

Likewise, Charlie Hunter played a more interactive than lead role. He was responsible for not only providing the lead guitar lines, but also playing all the bass parts on his 8-string guitar. As with Walter when he was called on to solo or to lead a tune he shined. On one tune he played a long intro that showed off an unseen side of his talent, the ability to play straight blues.

DJ Logic mostly provided ambient samples, which added flavor to the music and gave it a modern edge. Clark seemed to be really getting off on the quirky sounds that Logic was producing from his side of the stage.

Clark himself, is a real treat to watch play. He has a tight style contained hints of all the great drummers throughout history including Elvin Jones and Zigaboo Modeleste. He also provided all the introductions and commentary during the evening and his enthusiasm for this band was obvious. In fact everybody on stage seemed to be having a great time playing with each other and the sold-out crowd also seemed to love the performance.

Clark mentioned that were recording this show so hopefully there will be a release of some of the music this group has played together. Any doubts I had about the band having too many leaders were put to rest as soon as the music started. Who knows if this incredible conglomeration of musicians will ever have the time to put together another tour like this one. It would be real nice to have a document of this historic team-up of talent.