Mark de Clive-Lowe Releases MEMORIES OF NANZENJI Video
By: Tori Hartshorn Feb. 22, 2019
Today, pianist, producer and composer Mark de Clive-Lowe premiered his video for "Memories of Nanzenji" in Stereogum's "Ugly Beauty" column. Directed by Moni Vargas, the video features dancer Alice Amano interpreting the song through her flowing free-form dance.
"Memories of Nanzenji" is off of de Clive-Lowe's newest album Heritage (released February 8th via Ropeadope). The album has been praised by NY Times, Hype Machine, Downbeat, Jazziz, and Exclaim!, who gave a 9/10 and called it "an early candidate for jazz record of the year." For the half-Japanese half-New Zealander who calls Los Angeles home, Heritage is a deeply personal exploration of de Clive-Lowe's ancestry and cultural roots. "Heritage is the idea of transmitting from the past to the future - knowing more about who we are and where we're going by understanding where we come from," he says. "It's about identity and one's place in the world."
"I was raised bi-culturally and as time goes on, the more I appreciate how much I owe to my roots," de Clive-Lowe continues. "Japan is my spiritual and ancestral home - the connection I feel there is so visceral and has shaped much of my life, largely without me even being fully aware of its influence. This music is me openly embracing and interpreting what Japan means, feels like and sounds like to me." Mark talks more about the album's background in this video profile HERE.
De Clive-Lowe is somewhat of a musical chameleon - as comfortable on the grand piano in a jazz club as he is multi-tasking electronics and live beats for a dancefloor. Like his peers Kamasi Washington, Makaya McCraven and Robert Glasper, de Clive-Lowe isn't content to simply play the jazz lane and he purposefully reaches across a broad palette of genres and influences to create something quite unlike anything else.
"I grew up on a mix of jazz, hip-hop and electronic music, so there's always all these different sounds in my head," de Clive-Lowe explains. "Some sounds can be expressed on conventional instruments, some need machines and I've developed a hybrid setup to facilitate all of that when I perform. Adding my own cultural story - allowing myself to reflect on and really show my ancestry and roots - feels like I've found the missing piece to my own identity and artistry."
The music reflects his own experiences in Japan ("Memories of Nanzenji" recollecting his visit to the historic Kyoto temple and gardens), the samurai code ("Bushid?" - "The Way of the Warrior"), childhood folk songs ("Akatombo" - an arrangement of a traditional melody as ubiquitous to Japanese people as Twinkle Twinkle is in the west), and more.
Heritage was recorded live at LA's Blue Whale jazz club over three nights, as well as one day in a North Hollywood studio. Exactly where the live recording stops and the studio recording starts is all but impossible to tell, with de Clive-Lowe editing the material to purposely blur that line. "The way I incorporate technology is always live - capturing and manipulating moments as they happen in real time - so this record was never about post-production, how you hear it on the album is how it happens live on stage."
Heritage is the first in a two part project. Heritage II will be unveiled in April 2019.
Tracklisting:
1. The Offering
2. Bushid?
3. Memories of Nanzenji
4. Mizugaki
5. Akatombo
6. Niten-Ichi
7. Asa no Yume
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