Clarence Penn grew up in Detroit and attended Northwestern High School where he studied with the principal percussionist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He attended Interlochen Arts Academy, the University of Miami and Virginia Commonwealth University where he studied with Ellis Marsalis. He moved to New York in 1991 and began playing and touring with Betty Carter. He has played and recorded with Ellis and Wynton Marsalis, Betty Carter, Stanley Clarke, Hank Jones, Makoto Ozone, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Dave Douglas, Maria Schneider, Chris Potter, Richard Galliano, Richard Bona, Luciana Souza, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Charlie Haden, Dianne Reeves, Gerald Clayton, Gretchen Parlato, and the super-group Fourplay. He’s recorded over a hundred studio albums, including the Grammy-winning recordings 34th and Lex by Randy Brecker and Concert In The Garden by Maria Schneider. He’s composed music for films and commercials, and produced tracks for numerous singers including Claudia Acuna. He’s taught at the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music from 2004 to 2012, as well as the Stanford Jazz Workshop, the Saint Louis College of Music in Rome, Italy, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Intensive Jazz Institute. Recordings of his own music include Play-Penn, Penn’s Landing, which earned a “Ten Best of 1997” accolade from the New York Times and Dali In Cobble Hill, all on Criss Cross Records.
