Gerald Clark
During the 1930s and 1940s, Gerald Clark led the best-known band for calypso music in New York. Clark was born in Trinidad around 1899 and in 1927 moved to New York. A guitarist and cuatro player, he formed his own band in 1928. Though he also studied medicine, he chose to remain in the music business. In 1931 he recorded as Gerald Clark and His Night Owls with calypsonian Wilmoth Houdini. In 1934 his band backed the Roaring Lion and Atilla the Hun on their historic first recording sessions in New York for the American Record Company. The band also appeared with the two singers on a Fleishman's Radio Hour broadcast that introduced calypso to many Americans. Clark's band (often called the Caribbean Serenaders) was subsequently selected to accompany most of the calypsonians who came to New York to record, first for Brunswick and later for Decca. During the 1930s, they also had a regular Sunday afternoon radio show on New York's WHN.
From 1939 to 1941, Clark's band appeared for long stints at the Village Vanguard with calypso singers like Sir Lancelot, Duke of Iron and Macbeth the Great. After the war, the band continued to perform, including an appearance at the famous Calypso at Midnight concert at Town Hall in 1947. Clark was also involved in Carnival celebrations in Harlem. He died around 1977.
