“Bass players and drummers are brothers in the basement cooking up the groove that makes people move.”
- John Densmore
A Happy Birthday to my friend of many years, Cliff Acred. Cliff turns 92 today. He still works five-days a week at Amro Music in Memphis repairing brass instruments.
I first met Cliff when I moved to Memphis in 1986. He was a patient at my new place of employment, St. Francis Hospital, rehabbing his shoulder from surgery. He came in regularly for PT and little by little we developed a friendship.
First let me say that Cliff is one of the most genial folks I've ever met. I've never known him to be anything other than pleasant and in a fine mood. It's hard to be unhappy when you're around Cliff. Also, much of what I tell you about his storied career, he'd never volunteer on his own without a lot of prodding. He's far too humble. It's only after spending time with him over four decades that I gradually learned some of these things.
It turned out, I came to know, that Cliff is a world-class musician of the highest order. The bass was his baby, upright and electric. He would identify, I think, primarily as a jazz artist. In fact, his jazz outfit opened for the Beatles in 1966. As a trained musician, though, he could play any style you named. Over his long career he played with many of the greats, Frank Sinatra, Sonny and Cher, Tony Bennett, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Price, Charlie Rich and on and on.
He was also a studio session player. He's played on more tracks than he can name or recall, I'm sure. He worked out of both Stax and Sun Recording Studios among many, playing on records by Jerry Lee Lewis and others you would recognize. He also did a significant amount of work with Isaac Hayes. That's Cliff playing bass on Hayes' Academy Award winning song, Theme From Shaft (Can ya dig it?). Those are all big things to me but Cliff, being a modest man, is non-chalant about them.
If you know me, you know I'm a lover of stories. They make the world go ‘round. Well, let me tell you, Cliff possess a huge inventory of great stories, music-related and otherwise. Some I could tell you if space allowed, some I couldn’t. Two or three are ones I keep handy in case a good yarn is needed. Shortly after the Stax Museum opened in Memphis I asked him to go with me to get his take as an insider. We meandered through the exhibits and he pointed out tidbits and behind-the-scenes anecdotes that the other paying customers didn't get with their ticket price.
Cliff helped me pick out my first guitar. He went with me to the store and guided me through the purchase, making sure I made a sensible choice. I still have it.
Cliff's also always been ahead of the game on the technology front. I remember back in the early 90s, he explained to me that a thing, I don't know if he called it the internet, but that's what he was describing, was going to soon be a part of our lives. I was like, “Huh…okay.” It sounded far out to me but within ten years, sure enough.
Cliff's had the kind of life and career that people write books and make documentaries about. It's a shame it hasn't been done. But if you took all of the groovy music stuff away, it wouldn't matter a bit. He would still be Cliff, one of the finest people I've ever known. I'm blessed to have called him my friend for 40 years. Happy Birthday, man!
Oh, by the way, Cliff's sometimes nickname is “Cliff-O.” Elvis gave him that.