StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Clark Terry and his famous friends

This year marks the centennnial of the birth of legendary trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry. As we approach what would have been his 100th birthday on December 14, StLJN will be paying tribute by sharing videos of Terry, starting today with just a few of his many collaborations and encounters with other famous musicians and singers.

The first video up above shows Terry with another American musical icon, blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters, sitting in on a version of T-Bone Walker's standard "Stormy Monday." It was recorded in July, 1977 in Nice, France, with Muddy's band, which included Bob Margolin (guitar), Guitar Junior (guitar), Pinetop Perkins (piano), Calvin Jones (bass), and Willy "Big Eyes" Smith (drums).

After the jump, you can see Terry performing his signature song "Mumbles" in 2001 with the "Queen of Soul," Aretha Franklin, backed by a band including Herbie Hancock (keyboards), Russell Malone (guitar), Ron Carter (bass), Roy Haynes (drums), and James Carter (saxophones).

In the third clip, Terry returns to his former place of employment, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, sometime around 1980 to front the show's famous orchestra for a couple of numbers.

That's followed by a choice cameo appearance by Terry on another late night talk show, as he offers single choruses of flugelhorn and vocals on a version of Quincy Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova" recorded in 2001 for Late Night with David Letterman with Jones' orchestra and saxophonist Phil Woods, who takes the solo before Terry's.

After that, you can see a full concert from the long-running "Jazz at the Philharmonic" series, which was started by producer Norman Granz in 1944 and continued through the 1950s in the US and into the 1980s in Europe. This all-star performance was recorded in 1967 in London by the BBC, and along with Terry, the ensemble includes Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), James Moody (alto sax, flute), Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Teddy Wilson (piano), Bob Cranshaw (bass), and Louis Bellson (drums).

The final clip shows another all-star session, billed as "A Trumpet Summit" at the 1999 edition of the Jazz in Marciac festival in France. It features Terry will fellow trumpeters Benny Bailey, Stepka Gut, Jon Faddis, Terell Stafford, Nicholas Payton, Roy Hargrove, and Wynton Marsalis, backed by pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist Pierre Moussaguet, and drummer Alvin Queen.

Look for more videos celebrating Clark Terry in the coming weeks. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...