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Event
Merrimans' Playhouse Jazz Performance Series presents Rob Clearfield Trio!
Chicago-based pianist returns to Merriman's Playhouse along with regular collaborators bassist Curt Bley (Hal Russell NRG Ensemble) and drummer Quin Kirchner (Wild Belle). This performance is part of a CD release tour, in support of the trio's new recording "Islands" available on Ears&Eyes Records.
Rob Clearfield - piano
Curt Bley - bass
Quin Kirchner - drums
Rob Clearfield grew up steeped in music. His mother is a professional musicianmusic teacher, church music directorand so the idea of making a living with ones instrument was always second nature in the Clearfield household. By the time he was three years old, Clearfield knew Paul Simons Graceland backwards and forwards. By five, hed started taking piano lessons, spurred in part by a competitive streak against his piano-playing older sister. But if he had to identify the moment he became a musicianif something like that can ever be identifiedit was age 13, when a broken-down, nylon-string guitar materialized at his house.
Clearfield studied privately with Jim Trompeter at Roosevelt University from 2003-2005, during his days as an undergraduate jazz studies major, but chose to leave college when he realized that he was attending school to grow as a musician and be able to work, but that he was already working as a musician, which was in turn facilitating a lot of growth itself. The switch from working musician/college student to working musician, period, was facilitated by the narrative hed been handed from birth: There was never really a question about whether I would go for a life in music or not, and I never really entertained the idea of not making it. When I say making it, I dont mean fame or fortune, but that Id seen throughout my life how it was possible to support oneself in musicand I knew I could do that.
After leaving Roosevelt, Clearfield received a call from guitarist Fareed Haque, who asked him to play a weekend of gigs in Colorado. It was Clearfields first experience on the road, and marked a new step in his career: playing regularly and collaboratively with someone on a high professional and artistic level. Back from Colorado, he increased his presence on the Chicago scene, playing original music, church gigs, jazz standards, wedding bands, and everything in between.
From 2004-2011, his band Information Superhighway played Clearfields original compositions and released two albums; he also continued to play with the Fareed Haque group, talked his way onto Grazyna Augusciks band and began to tour internationally with her, played with an impressive roster of Chicagos finest musicians (a quick partial list: Matt Ulery, Marquis Hill, Makaya McCraven, Greg Ward, Howard Levy, Patricia Barber, Chris Siebold, Melvin Butler, Ernest Dawkins); played with prog-rock band District 97from 2006 to 2015, which involved collaborations with John Wetton (King Crimson, Asia); and was a founding member of the R&B/soul group Hood Smoke as well as the folk/rock group Outertown (to this day, he continues to work with both groups).
During his decade-plus on the scene, Clearfield has developed a reputation for lyrical, emotive compositions that contain the kernel of an oxymoron: an sound that is somehow both sad and redemptively positive. For inspiration, he turns to gospel music, Brahms, blues, Radiohead, Johnny Greenwoods non-Radiohead work, and modern jazz artists like Kneebody, Marilyn Crispell, Ben Monder, and Kurt Rosenwinkelbut also to other art forms, like the films of Ingmar Bergman and Krzysztof Kieslowski, work that embodies the sad/redemptive dichotomy he loves.
In addition to performing and composing, Clearfield has received grants to compose for churches (Grace Commons), stage productions (Purdue North Central University), and film (The Lost Remake of Beau-Geste). These days, Clearfield is focused on his first trio releaseIslands, coming out on ears&eyes Records spring 2016.
$10 Advanced, $13 Door, $8 Student
PLEASE NOTE - you may use CREDIT CARD or PAYPAL: Once you've added the tickets to your cart in the Brown Paper Tickets site, click on the ORANGE "Pay via PayPal" button on the Buyer Details page, and this will take you to Merrimans' PayPal account. You will then have the option to pay with your credit card or your PayPal account.
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LocationMerrimans' Playhouse (View)
1215 Mishawaka Ave.
South Bend, IN 46615
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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Contact
Attendees
Name Withheld
United States
Apr 06, 2016 6:20 AM |
Name Withheld
United States
Apr 06, 2016 6:20 AM |
Name Withheld
United States
Apr 05, 2016 2:49 PM |
Name Withheld
United States
Apr 05, 2016 2:49 PM |
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