Mark de Clive-Lowe: Before the Beats

Mark de Clive-Lowe - Naisei
From Vision: Tap Records TAP004 [OOP]

Mark de Clive-Lowe - Hinde Hinde
From Manifesto Auckland Jazz Sampler: Tap Records TAPSR001 [OOP]

Half Kiwi, half Japanese, Mark de Clive-Lowe today lives in London and is a well established part of the nu-jazz/broken beat scene, working with artists such as Kaidi Tatham (Bugz in the Attic), DJ Spinna, and Sa-Ra. If you want to hear what he sounds like in 2005, his new album Tide's Arising is well worth a listen.

But prior to establishing a reputation for killer jazz-influenced club tunes, Mr de Clive-Lowe had a previous incarnation in Auckland in the 1990s as a rather well-rounded acoustic jazz pianist, and one of the genuine movers and shakers of the musical community. Wherever Mark was, stuff happened - gigs got organised, funding got secured, record labels got started, jam sessions congealed.

Here's some recordings from that time: Naisei with Matt Penman (b) and Nick McBride (d), displaying the influence from Keith Jarrett's earliest trio work with Paul Motian and Charlie Haden. And then we go a little African with Hinde Hinde: the trio is joined by Phil Slater (t), Carl Dewhurst (g) and Ghanaian musicians Kojo Owusu and Nii Tettey Tetteh on percussion.