Mark de Clive-Lowe

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, de Clive-Lowe was raised bi-culturally by his Japanese mother and New Zealand father. He started learning piano at age 4 and developed an in interest in jazz through his father's record collection and oldest brother's own piano playing. As a teenager in New Zealand he got his first production and electronic music experiences collaborating with local hip hop and R&B artists. He cites the Tokyo jazz club scene as being a key factor in his decision later to really pursue jazz music.

De Clive-Lowe came to international prominence during his decade living in London, UK. From 1998-2008 de Clive-Lowe was a regular collaborator with a community of producers including Bugz in the Attic, 4Hero and Restless Soul. He is a veteran of the UK's broken beat movement, blending jazz, electronics, funk and percussion-heavy world music. He has been involved with over 200 releases, collaborating artists including Lauryn Hill, Jody Watley, Shirley Horn, UK soul singer Omar, percussionist Sammy Figueroa, bass player Pino Palladino.

Having recorded two locally released solo albums for New Zealand independent label Tap Records in the late 1990s (plus an album as a member of the group Jazz in the Present Sense), his third album Six Degrees was released worldwide in 2000 (Universal Jazz/emarcy). De Clive-Lowe released his next full-length album Tide's Arising 22 March 2005 on ABB Soul/Antipodean and Columbia in Japan. The album features Pino Palladino and Bémbé Ségué. Tide's Arising was cited as one of the most groundbreaking new jazz albums from the UK in 2005.[1]

Mark de Clive-Lowe's 2012 solo album, Renegades,[2] was released 14 November 2011 on Tru Thoughts Records. The album features Omar, Sheila E., Nia Andrews, Tawiah, Ovasoul7 and Sandra Nkake. The Why featuring Nia Andrews was released as the first single in early October 2011. His 2013 album is a collaboration with the Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra Take the Space Trane (Tru Thoughts) recorded live at De Doelen, Rotterdam. He has also produced all tracks on the studio album for US singer Sy Smith, Fast and Curious released in March 2012, and all tracks on the studio album for US singer Sandra St. Victor of The Family Stand, Oya's Daughter released September 2013.

The 2014 album Church features guests including Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Nia Andrews, Robin Eubanks et al. showcases the clubnight party "Church" de Clive-Lowe founded with Nia Andrews in Santa Monica, CA in 2010. A mixture of jazz club, dance club and live remix experiment, the event has been resident in Los Angeles, New York and done pop ups in Chicago and Philadelphia. The album was remixed by international DJ/producers for the 2015 Church Remixed release. In 2016, de Clive-Lowe released his tribute to Blue Note Records with #Bluenoteremixed Vol.1. Recorded live in one take, the mixtape style release sees de Clive-Lowe remixing samples from the Blue Note Records catalog on the fly, joined by guests including Illa J, Bambu, John Robinson, Pino Palladino, Nia Andrews and Nomad Pendergrast.

2017's release Live at the Blue Whale was recorded at downtown LA's Blue Whale jazz club with de Clive-Lowe on piano, keyboards and live electronics and drum programming along with saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Brandon Eugene Owens and Gene Coye on drums paying tribute to his own inspirational favorites: Yusef Lateef, Sun Ra and Ahmad Jamal.

• Mark de Clive-Lowe Official Webpage