Smalls, Cliff (actually, Clifton Arnold)
Smalls, Cliff (actually, Clifton Arnold)
Smalls, Cliff (actually, Clifton Arnold), jazz pianist, trombonist, arranger; b. Charleston, S.C, March 3, 1918. Smalls began playing music as a child; his father was also a musician. During high school, he played in a local group called the Royal Eight. He left Charleston with the Carolina Cotton Pickers, remained with them until joining Earl Hines in summer 1942 (doubling on trombone and second piano); he left Hines in late 1946. Reformed with Billy Eckstine (1948–50) and with Earl Bostic before suffering a serious injury in an auto accident in 1951. Resumed touring in the mid-1950s, worked with trombonist Bennie Green, and with Paul Williams; he also accompanied vocalist Clyde McPhatter. Smalls acted as musical director and accompanist for vocalist Brook Benton for seven years in late 1950s and early 1960s prior to becoming musical director for Smokey Robinson. During the 1960s he also worked with Ella Fitzgerald, and with Reuben Phillips’s Big Band at the Apollo Theater, N.Y. During the 1970s Smalls often worked with Sy Oliver’s Band; he also did work as an accompanist and made freelance recordings. Toured Europe in Oliver Jackson’s trio in the early 1980s.
—John Chilton , Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter