Day turns to night as Mark de Clive-Lowe’s Heritage II (out April 5th via Ropeadope) takes listeners from the meditative zen of Heritage into a world of jazz and Japanese roots culture fused with hip hop, drum’n’bass and broken-beat.
‘Heritage is a legacy we receive from our ancestors to pass on to future generations. It’s the thread that holds us together in lineage and cultural identity,’ posits jazz and electronic music pioneer Mark de Clive-Lowe. The half-Japanese half-New Zealander presents his new album Heritage II – the partner and second installment to his critically acclaimed album Heritage, a deeply personal exploration of his Japanese cultural and ancestral roots.
“Heritage is what gives our relatively short lives context and meaning in the bigger picture of generations past and future. We are the new ancestors, and with that in mind, it’s important that we act – and contribute – accordingly. This is my identity search and journey to better understand where I’ve come from, what ancestry means to me and where I’m going to. ”
On Heritage II, de Clive-Lowe is joined by a cast of world-class musicians: Josh Johnson, Teodross Avery, Brandon Eugene Owens, Brandon Combs, Carlos Niño, and Tylana Enomoto – who all contribute stellar performances in support of de Clive-Lowe’s music.
‘These are not only my favorite musicians, but my friends, and that they were all able to be part of this project really means a lot to me. They’re all such incredible musicians, and no one brings any ego to the table – that’s one key thing that makes it possible to explore this music with a real sense of vulnerability and honesty.’
Glide is thrilled to premiere “The Silkroad” (below) from Clive-Lowe, a robust composition that bursts with stunning musicianship and vibrant, multi-ethnic, progressive jazz flairs.
“In Ethiopia, traditional music is built from very identifiable scales called kiñit, specifically altered pentatonic scales. As it would happen, traditional Japanese music is also built off specifically altered pentatonic scales that are literally identical to those used in Ethiopia. This revelation was mind-blowing for me and leads me to the idea that these musical building blocks traveled the Silk Road along with commerce, cultural customs and academic knowledge creating an ethno-musical thread from North Africa, throughout mainland Asia to Japan and all the way back again. Broken-beat rhythms lay the foundation for the pan-Asian melody to take guide all along the Silk Road to a place of infinite possibility and new sounds, “describes Clive-Lowe.
Heritage II is the partner album to Heritage. The album’s original artwork by Tokio Aoyama depicts Bon Odori – a summer festival dance under the night-time sky – surreally all happening inside de Clive-Lowe’s grand piano.
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. It’s about identity and one’s place in the world,” muses pianist and electronics wizard Mark de Clive-Lowe. For the half-Japanese half-New Zealander who calls Los Angeles home, his latest musical offering, Heritage, is a deeply personal exploration of his ancestry and cultural roots.
“I was raised bi-culturally and as time goes on, the more I appreciate how much I owe to my roots. 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.
Leaning into the moods and textures of Japan’s folkloric mythology and culture in tandem with his already nuanced blend of jazz, live electronics and sampling, de Clive-Lowe takes us on a culture-rich journey through his own sonic imagination, seamlessly fusing genres and blurring the lines between technology and live musicianship.
