Voici un producteur très créatif et ingénieux à surveiller de très près sur le label Stone Throw! j'adore son style funky, aérien et discoïde...il s'agit de DAM-FUNK !!!!
Nea Posey - State of the World Pursuit Grooves - For You Jamie Vex'd - In System Travel Brackles & Shortstuff - Broken Harp (Geiomix) Yoggyone - Preparation Fatima & Dorian Concept - Timetravellin' Lukid - Onix Bjork - Hunter Aybee ft Erik Rico - So Much Greater Common ft. Bilal - Star *69 (PS With Love) Daru & Reggie B - I Was Wrong Georgia Anne Muldrow - Larva Dwele - Continued /Holla Everything but the Girl - Before Today Daft Punk - Indo Silver Club
Je vous avais parlé précédemment du livre sur le mouvement jazz dance en Angletterre!!
Et voici 2 vidéos ENORMES qui résument ce dont je parlais... l'image a beaucoup plus d'impact , c'est sûr ... avec une troupe japonaise de jazz dancers "Stax Groove'" dont je vous avais parlé il y a quelques mois !!!!!
J'ai eu le plaisir de voir Sandra Nkakeen 4 têtes "la voie de la voix" au Duc des Lombards fin mai à Paris!
Sandra Nkake donnait pour la 1ère fois un concert au prestigieux Duc des Lombards s'il vous plaît! Elle était accompagné d'un trio jazz de haut niveau!
Le décor est planté! Sandra Nkake avec une tenue des plus"rock 'n roll" :) tout de noir vêtue et des bottes à franges rouges... dépareillaient avec le décor sobre et j'ai envie de dire l'aspect conservateur du lieu.... c'était amusant !
eh bien , que dire de cette prestation!!! LA GROSSE CLAQUE !! je pèse mes mots ça changeait des prestations très funky, "explosives" de Miss Nkake!
On a eu le droit à une interprétation différente des titres de son album "Mansaadi" en version jazz acoustique, world et brazil...très beau... vraiment... sublime...
Sandra Nkake a littéralement donné un show! c'est le moins qu'on puisse dire! tout est passé en revue, la funk, la soul à la D Angelo, la bossa nova, le jazz, le rock, la chanson française, la comédie, le show comique... tout ..... absolument tout!!
J'étais sur le qui vive... Sandra était imprévisble... elle passait du sérieux, au loufoque, à la profondeur, à l'émotion d'un titre à l'autre... très étonnant! de plus, je tiens à dire que j'ai beaucoup ri!!
J'ai été touchée voire émue par les paroles de certaines chansons... "be yourself.." "Africa, my house".... vraiment magnifiques
Quelques guest sont venus rejoindre la diva Sandra Nkake sur scène comme Gérald Toto( quelle douceur....) Guillaume Farley (jolie grain de voix) et Ji Drû à la flûte (fidère à lui même)
et je tiens à dire bravo aux musiciens qui nous ont délecté d'une musique jazzy sublime...et quelques impros mémorables !
magnifique, j'en redemande !!!!!
et enfin je demande quand verrons-nous Sandra Nkake dans une comédie musicale, je vous le demande??!!!
J'ai le plaisir de vous annoncer que le blog Nujazz Spirit est partenaire du festival JAZZ MIX dans le cadre de Jazz à Vienne 2009 !!
Voici la programmation qui en surprendra plus d'un !!
JAZZ MIX au Magic Mirror - Entrée libre du 29 juin au 9 juillet:
• 29 juin : Hot 8 Brass Band: «Tribute to Motown» • 30 juin : Magic Malik Orchestra invite Sanne Van Heck • 1er juillet : Nostalgia 77 Sessions feat. Lizzy Parks • 2 juillet : Ku-umba Franck Lacy «The Electric Side of Freddie Hubbard» • 3 juillet : Brian Jackson • 4 juillet: Jazzanova Live Band feat Paul Randolph • 6 juillet: IG Culture‘s Zen Badizm workshop • 7 juillet: Pedron «Omry» Vs Tigran «Red Hails» - In A Jazz Punk Way of Life • 8 juillet : Don Blackman • 9 juillet: Kneebody/Daedelus Collaboration
JAZZ MIX NIGHT au Théâtre Antique le 10 juillet
• Seun Kuti & Fela's Egypt 80 invitent Archie Shepp • Anthony Joseph & the Spasm Band invitent Othello Molineaux & Joseph Bowie • Roy Ayers & friends feat. Don Blackman Jazzcotech dancers… • Erik Truffaz 4tet invite Christophe • Sun Ra Arkestra • Oxyd, Lauréat RéZZO 2008
J'ai eu un gros coup de coeur pour cet album de Emanative "Space" ... le titre est excellent...ça ne vous rappelle rien? si je vous dis Sun Ra... l'album est sublime... je ne m'en lasse pas...
Je vous en reparle prochainement en détails En attendant voici un extrait sur youtube "When On Earth".... spiritual... aérien...très beau...
J'ai découvert cette vidéo sur youtube qui vaut le coup d'oeil! Pour la sortie de son album "Ecstatic", Mos Def a offert au public américain une performance live, des plus détonante !
J'ai eu le grand plaisir de faire une interview de Mark de Clive Lowe, cela faisait très longtemps que j'avais cette envie sans l'avoir concrétisée.. et finalement, au mois d'octobre-novembre dernier, MDCL a accepté de répondre à mes questions juste avant qu'il ne déménage aux USA en Californie (à une étape charnière de sa vie).
L'interview est en anglais... sorry J'ai fait pas mal de recherche à l'époque à son sujet... j'ai toujours voulu en savoir plus son parcours, sa philosophie de vie, son approche de la musique... A mon sens, Mark De Clive Lowe est un véritable artiste, dans le 1er sens du terme... unique dans son genre... qui a réussi à combiner toutes les influences du jazz et ses dérivés et la musique électronique... et qui a atteint un degré " d'excellence" rarement égalé dans sa catégorie...
Il faut également ajouter à cela que j'aime beaucoup ses productions... L'avoir vu en live en novembre à Paris au Batofar m'a mis la claque... MDCL parvient à donner des show lives qui sont tous improvisés... c'est assez incroyable, il faut le voir pour le croire et c'est l'homme -machine qui sait tout faire, et qui arrive à donner une âme soul à sa musique... très étonnant!
Et aussi, ce qui est tout à son honneur, MDCL fait tout lui-même, la création, la production, la communication, le management... tout de A jusqu' à Z ( rare de pouvoir allier l'aspect artistique et business...)
Je vous invite donc à lire cette interview!
INTERVIEW MARK DE CLIVE LOWE
N: Where were you born?
MDCL : Auckland, New Zealand
N: Who were your heroes as a child?
MDCL : I don't recall any specific ones from childhood, but depending what age you're talking about some of them included my eldest brother (who was a really talented pianist), Snoopy and Henry Sugar.
N: What are your musical influences?
MDCL : I grew up playing classical, but had a big interest in jazz through my dad's record collection - stuff like Ellington and Benny Goodman, and my oldest brother was getting deep into jazz piano himself. I remember my brother giving me three records when Iwas quite young that he was digging - Errol Garner's concert by the sea, Ahmad Jamal's "The Awakening "and Chick Corea's acoustic band first album. "The Awakening" has stayed with me always and is one of my all time favorite records. It was a few years later though when I came across Miles' "My Funny Valentine/Four & More" album which really blew my mind. Between that and Spike Lee's "Mo Better Blues" movie, it was a done deal for me. I wanted to be a great jazz pianist, be in New York playing with my idols and being part of that tradition. I had no idea that my life would take me in a whole other direction after I went to London and ironically, now I feel like that that experience has led me to a path that really is an extension and part of the tradition I grew up loving so much.
N: Did your parents recognise your nascent talent?
MDCL : my dad decided that all his children would learn musical instruments no matter what. I guess I showed some inclination really young, so from 4 years old I was getting piano lessons.
N: I know that your grandparents were much into music: Your grandmother is an accomplished Japanese singer...
MDCL : my dad's grandfather wrote Gilbert & Sullivan style musicals, his son was an accomplished concert cellist. On my mum's side, her mother still sings traditional Japanese folk music. It's pretty crazy stuff - lots of microtones and odd phrasing.
N: Were your parents happy with your decision to embrace music as a career?
MDCL : once they started seeing newspaper articles and actual CDs then they started to accept it. Until that point is was always "get a qualification so you have something to fall back on". I remember when I used to live at home coming into the kitchen in the morning and the situations vacant section of the newspaper would be unsubtly left open on the bench!
N: What led you to your professional start?
MDCL : I did gigs with a big band in Auckland which my brother used to play in. It hink it was through him that I got a chance to get the piano chair. In my last couple of years of high school I also started doing duo gigs around town with a friend who played alto sax. We'd go through the real book each night trying to make sense of jazz standards. It wasn't until after high school that I got into the actual techniques and theories that would shape my jazz approach properly.
N : and then you received a formal jazz training? Right?
MDCL : formal jazz training is something of an oxymoron for a start. Idid spend one year at the Berklee college of music in Boston. My private lessons teacher taught me a great deal - he was an old man already then and had definitely come up through the bebop era. Aside from that, most of the time it was about jamming with other students.
N : Interesting... Can you describe us what is your relationship to Jazz?
MDCL : I think I was first attracted to jazz for the groove (especially in comparison to classical piano music which I'd been learning) and the freedom that it offered in improvisation. At each stage of my musical development, what, how and why I played was a reflection of where Iwas at in my life at that point in time. Now I feel a lot more settled, knowing how Iwant music to sound and how to make it sound like that while being conscious of keeping my own creativity evolving.
N: ok but what does it mean for you?
MDCL : It's more what it does not mean to me. jazz to me is not about the vernacular or musical language that makes say, bebop sound like bebop. It's about the concept and wider creative approach embodied by musicians like Ellington, Miles, Trane, Monk, Herbie and many others right through to the likes of J Dilla, Ig Culture and Q tip.
N: One day, would you like to play in a jazz big band?
MDCL : I started off in a big band - in fact before the first big band gigs Idid, I 'd played big band in junior high school. I'm not sure i really knew what I was doing though! I'm doing some big band show (in january 2009) in Holland, fusing the MPC and synths with a jazz big band. That's going to be dope.
N : ok after attending Berklee, you 've travelled around the world to discover new music...can tell us more about it?
MDCL : I won a travel/study scholarship from New-Zealand to go around the world for a year doing a pilgrimage to places I wanted to connect with. I went to San Francisco, Cuba, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo.. all over the place. It was an incredible year that provided me with the foundations for what was to be my most recent entire chapter of creative development. Ialways thought I was ultimately heading to New York, but it was London that set my path and direction - meeting the likes of Ig Culture, Phil Asher, Bugz and Dego - that was life changing shit.
N : What about your experience in Cuba? What did that change in your life?
MDCL : Cuba was the first place I'd been to where the land itself resonates culture and rhythm. It was indescribably potent. it was also the first time I'd been somewhere where I had basically zero ability to make myself understood. My Spanish was limited to 'how much ?' and 'one more beer' ! I got to link up with some great musicians - Julito Padron from the original Irakere lineup and Chucho Valdez being too big highlights.
N : and then you moved to London... can you explain us...
MDCL : I initially went to London during my one year study trip chasing a girl! we'd broken up by the time I got there though so I was at something of a loose end. The first session I did was for techno DJ Dave Angel, the second was for Metalheadz with Sci-Clone - I was a big jungle fan, so tapping into that culture in London was really inspiring. After that though, Nathan Haines introduced me to Phil Asher, and the rest as they say, was history. Phil and I went in studio the next day and started cutting tracks. Phil introduced me to Seiji, Daz I Kue, Afronaught, Ig Culture and Dego.Ig introduced me to Kaidi - we had a really funny first meeting at IG's studio. Ig and I had a groove up, Kaidi came to the studio and the two of us didnt even talk to each other, we just played keyboards to each other over the groove. That was the start of a great friendship. London provided me with so much inspiration and creativity that when universal UK signed my album "Six Degrees", it was clear to me that It was time to relocate fully to the UK.
N: What have you learnt in London ?
MDCL: my time in London taught me so much - my whole craft as a producer came from my time there - watching and working with people like Phil Asher and Ig. the club culture there introduced me to so much music I didnt know of - both old and new - which gave me a context with which to do my own music. Most of all the experiences there showed me that the UK is unique in creating new genres, styles and fusions. Something that is testament still today with Grime and Dubstep.
N: How did it change your way of making music?
MDCL : before my time there I was mostly an acoustic musician, with occasional forays into funk and crossover styles where I'd play a rhodes, maybe with some effects on it. London introduced me to the tools of club music production and most specially, the Akai MPC. That instrument changed the whole way I made music, giving me sonic range that I could never have had with a live band and control over the shape of the music that I didnt have before. it was really the ultimate production tool. also working with DJ-producers taught me a lot about functionality and space in music which in turn had a huge effect on me as a producer. The lesson that miles and ahmad jamal taught in the space and silence is the place - It's as much what you don't play as what you do play - that lesson was imparted to me fully by people like phil asher and Ig. I remember one of my first sessions for phil, we were doing a remix for Fini Dolo and I played three chords. Phil said "that's it". I'm like.." that's IT ??!". that was the lesson in itself. especially with club music, every sound has to have its form and function. That's a lesson that applies in any style, but I learnt it through that process.
N: What I found fascinating is that you switched from becoming a jazz player to one of the most creative producer and musician in electronic, broken beat music worldwide...
MDCL : I guess as much as I wanted to be world class acoustic neo-classical jazz player - growing up It was all about contemporaries like Kenny Kirkland and classic Blue Note records for me - the way I found my own sound, style and path was to come through my experiences in london. It was great because what I found in London was an amalgamation of the entire history of black music reinterpreted and extended to be a wholly original and new style and musical expression.
N: How would you define the Mark de Clive Lowe 's style for those who do not know you?
MDCL : like anyone's style, It comes down to the way I hear harmony, rhythm and melody. when I bring those elements into a piece of music - whether It's electronic, acoustic, live or studio, then you'll hear that It's me.
N: Don't you think sometimes that your music is too visionary... in advance for our time... that the world is not ready yet...?
MDCL : no. I just think the world's been dumbed down too much by a music industry that for far too long has cared more about economics and marketing than artistry and creative expression. I like to think that's changing though and It's the people who push the envelope who are going to be catalysts for that change.
Thanks a lot Mark de Clive Lowe ( back in november 2008)
1.10 desert island discs that MDCL would bring on a desert island
MDCL : " just gotta make sure they stay out of the sun or they'll get warped!"
1.Ahmad Jamal - The Awakening 2.Prince - Sign of the Times 3.Miles Davis - My Funny Valentine / Four & More 4.A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders 5.Minnie Ripperton - Adventures in Paradise 6.Parliament - The Mothership Connection 7.Marvin Gaye - I Want You 8.Herbie Hancock - Manchild 9.D'angelo - Voodoo 10.Cesar Mariano - Sao Paulo Brasil
2. Playlist
1. Yameen - Light of Love (MdCL remix) 2. Rob van de Wouw - Tunnelvision LP 3. The Politik - Mistaken (Slang remix feat Dave Ghetto) 4. Phlash & Friends - Deep Electronic Sound LP 5. VV feat Julito Padron - Do Me Right 6. Sun Singleton - Ready (Version 3 remix) 7. Bembe Segue - Even if it Segue (demo) 8. Eddy Meets Yannah - Nostalgic 9. Marsha Ambrosius - Cloud 9 10. Can-Tip (Phlash edit)
3.Concernant son actu discographique :
* Dernières sorties en date:
" light of love" feat lady alma (MdCL remix) tortured soul - "did you miss me" (MdCL remixes)
* A venir cette année !!!!
- l'album de Replife produit par MDCL (je suis fan) - l'album remix de "The Politics" - la compilation "Pacific Soul" - la compilation "Melodius Beats Vol.2" - l'album produit par MDCL de The Funktioneers et des collaborations avec Jody Watley, Sy Smith, Shea Soul, Zed Bias et bien d'autres !!!!!
à suivre !!
Si vous avez suivi MDCL était en tournée en Europe et à Cannes ! Malheureusement son périple ne prévoyait pas d'arrêt à Paris; A tous les orga et promoteurs, je lance un appel pour 2010 afin que MDCL revienne à Paris !!! merci :)
Allez maintenant voici quelques vidéos des ses prestations live de folie! une sélection difficile ... tant il y a de vidéos de MDCL... mais bon
