Bassist Stanley Clarke was something of a teenage prodigy, playing with Horace Silver at 18. Clarke began on violin and cello, later switching to acoustic and amplified bass. He made his reputation with pianist Chick Corea's jazz rock outfit, "Return to Forever", the unusual amount of elbow room in the group's approach giving him plenty of solo space. Any of their albums illustrate the subtle interaction between the musicians. Clarke's albums under his own name commute between the jazz and rock with astonishing passages of near-flamenco classical like "Spanish Phases for String & Bass" (Stanley Clarke) and multi-tracked vocal on "Just a Game" (School Days). Superstar publicity has both inflated abd distracted from his real status as a fine musician.