The Squid's Ear Magazine


Clarke, Zack: Mesophase (Clean Feed)

Mesophase: matter that is neither liquid or solid, sharing properties of both; pianist and electronic artistZack Clarke's inspired album shares properties of improvisation, experimental/ea and through-composed music, performed with fellow NY-ers Chris Irvine (cello), Charlotte Greve (winds), Nick Dunston (double bass), and Leonid Galaganov (percussion, waterphone & shakuhachi).
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Zack Clarke-piano, electronics

Chris Irvine-cello

Charlotte Greve-saxophone, clarinet, flute

Nick Dunston-double bass

Leonid Galaganov-percussion, waterphone, shakuhachi


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 5609063005028

Label: Clean Feed
Catalog ID: CF502
Squidco Product Code: 26675

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2018
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Park West Studios, in Brooklyn, New York, on April 25th, 2017, by Jim Clouse.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Mesophase is a term used in physics describing a state of matter that is neither liquid nor solid, sharing properties of both while defining a state unique unto itself. By extension, the concept can also apply to a reconciliation of emotional polarities or conflicting ideas.

Zack Clarke leverages the idea of a Mesophase as a vehicle for musical expression through the synthesis of disparate musical forces. His album "Mesophase" unites the natural and the human-made, bringing together acoustic and electronic elements in profound and unusual ways. The result is a music that is not defined by genre, taking essential elements from improvisation, electronic music and through-composed writing. With this combination of approaches, the pianist and composer from New York creates harmonic and melodic forms that translate through multiple mediums.

Clarke refers to the process of creating the album as "feeling less like construction and more like a discovery and translation of something that is already there." After the initial success and critical acclaim of his first Clean Feed release, Random Acts of Order, Clarke takes a bold and significant step forward with this record, as he expands his previous approach to electro-acoustic music through the incorporation of a score for an ensemble of musicians.

Performed by some of New York City's finest up-and-coming improvisors, the outcome is a vibrant palette of unique instrumentation and modern synthetic sound that delivers a powerful and thought-provoking listening experience."-Clean Feed


Artist Biographies

"Zack Clarke is a pianist and composer currently living and working in New York City. His abilities as a jazz improviser were first recognized while attending Houston's acclaimed High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where he was the recipient of numerous awards, including outstanding soloist awards from the North Texas Jazz Festival and from Downbeat Magazine.

Zack attended The New England Conservatory in Boston, majoring in Jazz Performance. While there, he had the opportunity to study with jazz greats Danilo Perez, Fred Hersch, and Jason Moran. Zack performed regularly in Boston, and upon completion of his Bachelor of Music degree he moved to New York to study with Kenny Werner and attend NYU, where he earned a Masters of Music.

An active session artist and performer, Zack has recorded or shared the stage with a number of prominent artists, including Tyshawn Sorey, Ingrid Laubrock, Daniel Carter, Billy Drewes, Kenny Werner, Sara Serpa, Ralph Alessi and Rich Perry. In addition to his many appearances in Boston and New York, Zack has performed in the UK and has upcoming performances planned in Europe. He has appeared on Luis Antonio Castro's CDs Koyari and Mirrors; Continuum, with the Joe Wagner Quartet; and with percussionist Dre Hocevar on Large Ensemble.

Zack's own recordings reveal a broad musical vocabulary, a love of improvisation and a willingness to explore new forms - from his electronic album Music For Headphones, to Dialectic, a collaboration with cellist Chris Irvine that features free improvisation based on Bach's third cello suites. Zack's most recent album, entitled Random Acts of Order, is set to be released on Clean Feed Records in March of 2017.

In addition to performing and composing, Zack is a dedicated teacher who is grateful for the mentorship he has received from so many fine musicians, and who finds rewards in sharing that knowledge with others. Zack maintains a private piano studio, has worked as adjunct faculty at NYU, and has also taught classes at the Brooklyn Conservatory."

-Zack Clarke Website (http://zackclarke.com/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Charlotte Greve is a New York-based alto saxophonist and composer originally from Germany. With a unique concept of tone and composition, she has been making a mark on both the Brooklyn and German jazz scenes. Charlotte has released seven albums as a leader of her bands Lisbeth Quartett and Wood River, two of which received an ECHO Jazz.

Further projects in New York are the Alto Saxophone quartet Asterids with Alto colleagues Caroline Davis, Oscar Noriega and Caleb Curtis as well as a trio with Vinnie Sperrazza and Chris Tordini called The Choir Invisible. Side-woman appearances include bands such as Matt Pavolka's Horn's band, Big Heart Machine and Vinnie Sperrazza's Apocryphal.

Born in 1988, Greve began playing classical flute at the age of eight and picked up the saxophone at the age of sixteen. She received her undergraduate degree at the Jazz Institute Berlin in 2012. The same year, she moved to New York City where she completed a masters degree in Jazz performance. Greve's most important teachers and mentors throughout her artistic journey have been John Hollenbeck, Mark Turner, Greg Cohen, and Billy Drewes."

-Charlotte Greve Website (http://charlottegreve.de/bio)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Nick Dunston is a Brooklyn-based composer, bassist, and scholar. An "indispensable player on the New York avant-garde" (New York Times), his performances have also spanned a variety of venues and festivals across North America and Europe. He's performed, toured, and recorded professionally with bands led by artists such as Tyshawn Sorey, Vijay Iyer, Marc Ribot, Ches Smith, Imani Uzuri, Ingrid Laubrock, Anthony Coleman, Roman Filiu, Jonathan Finlayson, Amirtha Kidambi, Moor Mother, Dave Douglas, Matt Wilson, Tomas Fujiwara, Allison Miller, Jeff Lederer, Jeff "Tain" Watts, and Darius Jones. He's spent extensive time studying with bassists Linda May Han Oh, Ben Street, Harish Raghavan, as well as with composer Missy Mazzoli.

As a composer, Dunston has written for a wide range of artists of multiple genres and disciplines. He's written for entities such as the New York Public Library of Performing Arts, the Joffrey Ballet School, The Witches, violist Joanna Mattrey, and the ESMAE Jazz and Chamber Orchestras. In 2019 he was awarded the Van Lier Fellowship by Roulette Intermedium, which supported the world premieres of The Floor is Lava! (upright bass quintet), and La Operación (double saxophone trio + soprano voice), referred to as "a work so dramatic and large that is both a response to socio-historical truth as well as a reflection on his own identity..." (I Care If You Listen). As a writer, he's made monthly contributions to Hot House Jazz Magazine from 2016-2019."

-Nick Dunston Website (http://www.nickdunston.org/new-page-2)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Leonid Galaganov is a New York City based multi-instrumentalist, improviser and composer from a remote Russian Old Believer settlement in Estonia. Embracing a wide spectrum of music practice traditions and perspectives on sound and its meanings, Leonid has been performing and recording on various instruments since 2003 in bands and orchestras, jazz, gamelan and chamber ensembles in Europe, the US and South America.

His current projects gather unique musicians together to realize the poetry of sound through diverse languages of improvisation and structure; engaging in rituals to manifest the invisible mystery with sound and to vitalize the interaction between conscious and unconscious. In the past year, Leonid recorded his trio with William Parker and Anais Maviel, and his quartet with Billy Drewes, Drew Gress and Zack Clarke in addition to fruitful collaborations and projects with many others.

As part of his formal education, Leonid studied orchestral conducting at Tallinn University as well as music performance and composition at NYU, from where he graduated with a BM in jazz studies; currently he's going to SUNY Purchase for a Master's degree in classical composition. In his present performance practice Leonid uses the drum kit, shakuhachi, waterphone, hand drums and other percussion instruments."

-Leonid Galaganov Website (https://www.leonidgalaganov.com/bio/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Curtain 6:25

2. Generative 8:15

3. Infiltration 2:01

4. Beggar 4:41

5. Tilted 4:49

6. Reticence 5:36

7. Frontier 4:14

8. Assimilate 5:49

9. Bridge 5:40

10. Bravery 5:37

Related Categories of Interest:


Clean Feed
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Electro-Acoustic Improv
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Quintet Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Clean Feed.


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The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

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