clark began playing professionally in his birthplace of washington, d.c. at age 16 in tommy myles's band. by 1934 he was playing regularly in new york city clubs; in the mid-1930s he recorded with alex hill and charlie barnet. benny carter was playing with barnet at the time, and he and clark decided to quit barnet's group and move to europe with willie lewis. while there he recorded with django reinhardt and bill coleman, but soon after left this group to play solo. he accompanied adelaide hall in switzerland in the mid-1930s. in 1937 he suffered a nervous breakdown, ending his career; he died soon after.