The Squid's Ear Magazine


Clarke, Zack (w/ Henry Fraser / Dre Hocevar): Random Acts of Order (Clean Feed)

NY pianist Zack Clarke initiates his album in the electronic realm, resolving to jazz trio work with Henry Fraser on double bass and drummer Dre Hocevar, in an album interspersed with electronics and free playing, an appealing blend of traditional and experimental approaches.
 

Price: $13.95


Quantity:

Out of Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Zack Clarke-piano, electronics

Henry Fraser-doublebass

Dre Hocevar-drums


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




UPC: 5609063004090

Label: Clean Feed
Catalog ID: CF409
Squidco Product Code: 23816

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2017
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Systems Two Recording Studios, in Brooklyn, New York, by Rich Lamb.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Random Acts of Order boldly confronts some of the core questions posed by free music. Working with two of the most dynamic young talents on the improvised music scene, bassist Henry Fraser and percussionist/composer Dre Hocevar, Zack Clarke explores a space between order and freedom that is represented by the polarities of idiomatic expectations and free improvisation.

The results are explored through forms that include swing, rock, minimalist, electronic music and solo piano; and while the essential elements of these styles maintain their integrity, the music here challenges their functional use, deconstructing and redefining them to create entirely new forms."-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/)
6/25/2025

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

"Henry Fraser is a bassist, composer, and improviser from Boston, MA. He received his B.F.A. from New England Conservatory of Music in the spring of 2014, where he studied with Cecil McBee, John McNeil, Anthony Coleman, & Ted Reichman. Since moving to Brooklyn, NY in 2014, Henry's unique combination of technical facility and aesthetic flexibility have made him an in-demand sideman and formidable band leader. Henry has performed throughout Europe and South American, including suchfestivals as the Panama Jazz Fest and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Current projects include Michael Foster's The Ghost, the Chris Pitsiokos Quartet and Maestro Day, a quartet co-lead by saxophonist, Sam Weinberg, as well as regular collaborations with the likes of Joe Morris, Brandon Seabrook and Jack Wright."

-Henry Fraser Website (http://henry-fraser.com/about/)
6/25/2025

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

"Dré A. Hočevar (Ljubljana, 1987) is a Slovenian composer and researcher based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Currently, Hočevar is conducting his PhD studies at the Centre for Research in New Music, CeReNeM, University of Huddersfield, UK. The central subject of his research and composition praxis is .meta [dynamic cognitive-apparatus formation, application, and analysis systems]. Dré A. Hočevar is the artistic director and founder of .alfabet, Institute for Research in Art, Critical Thought and Philosophy, and is frequently leading workshops, seminars, and lectures in composition, performance and research. Hočevar's teachers include Steve Lehman, Peter Ablinger, Joe Morris, Michael Carvin, Alexander J. Harker and Aaron Cassidy."

-Dre Hocevar Website (https://opus-i.io)
6/25/2025

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


Track Listing:



1. Before The Cause 12:18

2. Act 1 6:51

3. Elements 2:24

4. Low Gardens 8:23

5. Up On The High 5:33

6. Celebrate Unity 2:45

7. Act 2 7:38

8. Dee 7:23

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Trio Recordings
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Clean Feed

Search for other titles on the label:
Clean Feed.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Fraser / McCowen / Weinberg
Thip [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD]
(Tripticks Tapes)
Recorded primarily at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn and leveraging the natural resonance of that performance space, the New York trio of innovative improvisers Henry Frase on double bass, John McCowen on Bb and contrabass clarinets and Sam Weinberg on tenor & soprano saxophones explore the peripheries of their instruments in intense and reflective interplay.
Pitsiokis, Chris Quartet ( w/ Smiley / Fraser / Nazary)
One Eye with a Microscope Attached
(Eleatic Records)
Taking an angular approach to modern jazz that reminds of Steve Coleman/Five Elements, New York alto saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos provides the compositions for the six improvisations on this live album recorded at Seizure's Palace, in Brooklyn in a quartet with Andrew Smiley on electric guitar, Henry Fraser on electric bass and Jason Nazary on drums.
Weinberg, Sam / Henry Fraser / Weasel Walter
Grist
(ugEXPLODE)
Hard-edged NY improvisation from the performing trio of Sam Weinberg on sax, Henry Fraser on bass and Weasel Walter on drums, who since 2017 have developed a group sound of powerful and fiercely determined free jazz roots using interesting instrumental technique, often muscular and urgent but also with periods of constrained interplay and dialog; an extremely well balanced band.
Hocevar, Dre
Surface Of Inscription
(Clean Feed)
Composer and drummer Dre Hocevar brings an unusual sense of unity, logic and purpose to his improvised work resulting from a number of distinct compositional procedures, performed by vocalist Charmaine Lee, pianist Elias Stemeseder, brass player Weston Olencki reedist Michael Foster, and electronics artist Bernardo Barros, a unique and rewarding album.
Hasselberg, Joao / Pedro Branco
From Order To Chaos
(Clean Feed)
Primarily a bass and guitar duo between Portugese natives Joao Hasselberg, on double bass and electric, and electric guitarist Pedro Branco, here in their second album together of delicately sophisticated string improvisations, joined by a a great set of collaborators to expand the duo to trio and quartet.
Draksler, Kaja Octet (w/ Baars / Nielsdoottir / Polence / Rave / Dumitriu / Heyndels / Govaert)
Gledalec [2 CDs]
(Clean Feed)
Draksler's interest in poetry drives this 2-CD release, with a chamber octet of improvisers and orchestra players, with 2 vocalists, two reedists (inc. Ab Baars), violin, piano, double bass, drums & orchestral percussion, performing Draksler's compositions for the words of Pablo Neruda and Andriana Minou.
Bica, Carlos & Azul (w/ Frank Mobus / Jim Black)
More Than This
(Clean Feed)
With a 20 year history, double bassist Carlos Bica's trio Azul with Frank Mobus and Jim Black have developed a romantic, lyrical style that balances unusual textures and agressive playing with melodic style in wonderfully natural ways, here in their 6th alluring album.
Ballrogg (Ellerhuse-Holm / Arntzen / Grydeland)
Abaft the Beam
(Clean Feed)
The Ballrog duo of multi-reedist Klaus Ellerhusen Holm and double bassist Roger Arntzen is expanded with pedal steel guitarist Ivar Grydeland as they explore jazz influenced at the intersection of Jimmy Giufree and Eric Dolphy with Morton Feldman-esque non-linear structures.
Hocevar, Dre Trio (De Looze / St.Louis / Hocevar / Pluta)
Coding of Evidentially
(Clean Feed)
A multinational jazz trio using compositional and improvisational approaches, led by drummer Dre Hocevar, with Bram De Looze on piano, and Lester St. Louis on cello, plus NY electronics artist Sam Pluta providing signal processing on the title track.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Polwechsel / Klaus Lang
Unseen
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
The innovative acoustic free improvising ensemble Polwechsel, bridging contemporary music and free improvisation in ways that sound deceptively electroacoustic and comprised of Michael Moser on cello, Werner Dafeldecker on double bass, and Martin Brandlmayr & Burkhard Beins on cymbals & percussion, are joined by Klaus Lang performing on the church organ of St. Lambrecht's Abbey.
Morris, Joe
Instantiation: Paradoxical
(Glacial Erratic)
One part of New York improvising guitarist and composer Joe Morris' "Instantiation" project, where each part is uniquely composed with specific notated and operational components making each impossible to perform the same way twice, here in a studio recording with clarinetist Dan O'Brien, bassist Brad Barrett, and violinist Elinor Speirs.
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).
Amu (Fujii / Tamura / Itani / Wildenhahn)
Weave [CD & DVD]
(Libra)
Mizuki Wildenhahn adds an unusual percussive instrument through dance to the multi-arts Amu quartet of Wildenhahn, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, pianist Satoko Fujii, and percussionist Takashi Itani, heard on the CD and seen on the DVD of this 2-disc set of their unorthodox and absorbing live performance at Kanagawa Prefectural Lake Sagami-ko Exchange Center in 2018.
McPhee, Joe / Mats Gustafsson
Brace For Impact
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Drawing on many collaborations, from Peter Brotzmann's large groups to Gustafsson's The Thing, this duo album recorded in 2008 is finally issued to unleash 1 blistering album of saxophone duos, Joe McPhee on altos sax, alto clarinet, pocket trumpet and voice, with Gustafsson on baritone and slide saxophone, alto fluteophone and live electronics; brace yourself!
McPhee, Joe / Hamid Drake
Keep Going
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)
The second duo album between saxophonist & pocket trumpeter Joe McPhee and drummer/frame drummer Hamid Drake begins with McPhee reciting words by Harriett Tubman (Keep Going), as the two inform and astound through masterful playing, together and solo, shaking the listener through intense and unambiguously clear playing, with pieces reflecting our world situation.
Laubrock, Ingrid / Tom Rainey
Utter
(Relative Pitch)
After their 2016 tour of the US West Coast, husband and wife free improvising duo Ingrid Laubrock (tenor & soprano sax) and Tom Rainey (drums) entered a Brooklyn studio with a set of co-written compositions, which they weave together with free improv, relying on cues that can trigger a given composition at any time, adding a unique layer of communication to their exuberant playing.
Thumbscrew (Michael Formanek / Tomas Fujiwara / Mary Halvorson)
Ours
(Cuneiform Records)
The New York free improvising jazz trio Thumbscrew with long-time collaborators guitarist Mary Halvorson, double bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara in the 1st of 2 albums on the reborn Cuneiform label, here presenting creative original compositions from each of the three musicians in 9 virtuosic, sometimes quirky, and always warmly adventurous tunes.
Mezei, Szilard Septet
Hajnali APN
(FMR)
Serbian violinist and composer Szilard Mezei's septet in a recording for KCNS Novi Sad from 2015, three tracks of contemporarily orchestrated free improvisation performing three extended Mezei compositions, sophisticated works with effortlessly elaborate structures affording his septet opportunity in group interplay and well-developed soloing, a great achievement.
Sirius (Tembe / Trinite)
Acoustic Main Suite Plus The Inner One
(Clean Feed)
A beautifully complex album of resonant improvisation from Swazi born trumpeter Yaw Tembe, who is committed to bring Africa to the Portuguese free music scene, Yaw, along with Paris veteran percussionist/objects manipulator Monsieur Trinitee, blend patient sonic environments with percussive platforms and both meditative and scrabbly trumpet work; an absorbing release.
Fujiwara, Tomas
Triple Double
(Firehouse 12 Records)
Drummer Tomas Fujiwara's sextet is actually two trios interacting, with fellow drummer Gerald Cleaver, both Mary Halvorson and Brandon Seabrook on guitar, and Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet and Ralph Alessi on trumpet, the pairings forming unisons and contrasts that add an unrestrained sense of enthusiasm and excitement to Fujiwara's sophisticated compositions.
Tanaka, Ayumi / Johan Lindvall / Christian Wallumrod
3 Pianos
(Nakama Records)
This trio joins 3 disparate approaches to composition and improvisation--Japanese improviser Ayumi Tanaka, Oslo composer Johan Lindvall, and ECM artist Christian Wallumrod-developing the engaging material on this album by focusing on elements like tuning, register, intervals and dynamics, for an absorbing album of compatible and concentrative playing.
Chamber 4 (Vicente / Ceccaldi / Ceccaldi / dos Reis)
City Of Light
(Clean Feed)
A live concert at Les Soirees Tricot Festival in Paris, France in 2016, dedicated to the "City of Light", from the quartet of Luis Vicente on trumpet, Theo Ceccaldi on violin, Valentin Ceccaldi on cello and Marcelo dos Reis on acoustic guitar and prepared guitar, in music that, like the city, exhibits gorgeous simplicity through intricate sophistication.
Meridian Trio (Mazzarella / Ulery / Cunningham)
Triangulum
(Clean Feed)
A lyrical outing from the Chicago working trio of Nick Mazzarella on alto saxophone, Matt Ulery on doublebass, and Jeremy Cunningham on drums, performing live at the Whistler in Chicago, Illinois in 2016, recorded for this debut album of Mazzarella compositions, flexible pieces that balance jazz traditions with avant options for the players.
Mitchell, Matt plays Tim Berne
Forage
(Screwgun)
Pianist Matt Mitchell, a member of saxophonist Tim Berne's Snakeoil, releases a solo album of Berne compositions, taking the reedist's typically frenetic material into unexpected territory, revealing dark beauty and intensely introspective aspects to Berne's music.
Motif (Lonning / Nymo / Thieke / Wilk / Johansen / Vagan)
My Head is Listening
(Clean Feed)
Since 1999 the Norwegian Motif band has surprised listeners with their energetic, intelligent approach to experimental jazz, bridging free, structured, and collective approaches to improvised music, here as a sextet of trumpet/sax/clarinet/piano/bass/drums.
Morris, Joe
Shock Axis
(Relative Pitch)
A limited edition release of guitarist Joe Morri's new NY-area aggressive improvising trio with younger players Dave Parmelle on drums and Chris Cretella on electric bass, shredding with awesome technical skill and intense harmonic and melodic force, really powerful stuff!




The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC