A solid drummer in either free or hard bop settings, Clifford Jarvis was featured on several '60s and '70s albums. He proved both a consistently engaging, rhythmically diverse, and sound drummer, and a good percussionist, adding textures and colors to African and Latin instruments. Jarvis studied at Berklee with Alan Dawson in the mid- and late '50s, then moved to New York. He recorded with Chet Baker, Randy Weston, Yusef Lateef, Freddie Hubbard, Barry Harris, Jackie McLean, and Elmo Hope from 1959 to 1966, while also playing with Grant Green and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Jarvis worked with Sun Ra from 1962 to 1976, cutting several records. He also played with Pharoah Sanders, and recorded with Sonny Simmons, Alice Coltrane, and Sanders in the early '70s. Jarvis subsequently recorded with Kenny Drew and Walter Davis in the late '70s, and with Archie Shepp in 1985. He can be heard on reissues by Sanders, Hubbard, and others.