Mark de Clive-Lowe is a musical wizard on stage - juggling grand piano, synths, live sampling and beat making all on-the-fly, brought to life with a casual ease that’s mind-boggling. Pianist, composer, jazz musician, live remixer and electronic music producer, the Japanese-New Zealander was raised primarily in New Zealand where he learned piano from a young age developing an avid passion for jazz through his father’s record collection. In high school in NZ and Japan, he fell in love with sample-heavy 90s hip hop and early UK drum’n’bass – laying the foundation for a lifetime of genre-bending sonic adventures.
During formative decade at the epicenter of London’s underground music scene, Mark helped evolve the broken beat genre alongside some of the UK’s most forward-thinking trailblazers, establishing himself as a new voice in progressive electronic music and leading global tastemaker DJ Gilles Peterson to designate him “the man behind a million great tunes”. While in London, Mark released his albums ‘Six Degrees’ (Universal) and ‘Tide’s Arising (ABB/Columbia) and established his unique jazz-meets-electronica sound touring the world, prompting Jazziz to write with 20/20 hindsight in 2019:
“way before jazz hybridity became a worldwide phenomenon, de Clive-Lowe was busy designing its blueprint.”
Relocating to Los Angeles in 2008, his club night CHURCH was soon taking his signature sound of technology and beat-infused jazz mash-up from coast to coast and around the globe, seeing him on stage with multiple generations of the world’s most respected jazz, soul and hip hop artists - “equal parts jazz club, dance party and live remix experiment” as he likes to describe it, bringing his love for all things jazz, beat and DJ culture into one seamless blend of community, culture and connection. His 2019 release Heritage - a two-part double-album - sees Mark deep dive into his Japanese roots and ancestry through the lens of jazz and electronica - an immersive and evocative soundtrack transporting the listener through MdCL’s own experience of Japan along with his love for its history and mythology. Downbeat offers:
“de Clive-Lowe’s notion of truth on Heritage ultimately reaches beyond the individual, beyond his lineage and into the cultural moment we’re currently living”.
With his 2021 Motherland NFT Collection drop and entrance into the web3 space, Mark’s ancestral deep-dive has evolved into an audio-visual offering with a 40-minute immersive film - blending footage he shot in Kaga, Japan set to a solo performance of ancestrally-inspired compositions presented as an intimately meditative, stripped-down solo performance. As an artist who has been an early adopter of new technology throughout his life, seeing Mark explore blockchain technology and NFTs is no surprise.
Whether he’s remixing classic Blue Note Records in real-time, on stage joined by instrumental masters like Kamasi Washington, Pino Palladino or Eric Harland, improvising introspective solo piano or creating live soundtracks to classic film material, Mark de Clive-Lowe is an artist in constant evolution. He has performed with Harvey Mason, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Dwight Trible and Jean Grae; remixed Shirley Horn, Hiatus Kaiyote, Mantombi Matotiyana and Jerry Goldsmith; and recorded as producer and collaborator with artists all over the planet. Having released twenty albums and contributed to over 300 releases, he is among the most prolific of his generation.
Mark has performed across the US and throughout the world. He has given feature performances at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Smithsonian, The Lincoln Center and is Founding Artist in Residence for La Ceiba Festival (2020). He is also a 2021 U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Fellow and Montalvo Arts Lucas Artist Program Fellow.
"(the) avant-garde soulful Pianist/DJ/Producer delivers his lifetime of journeys to different musical ports in a concise package, seamlessly... transporting not just in genre but in emotion and spirit." - Huffington Post
"a beautiful marriage of hip-hop, traditional Japanese music, and Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis, all with some electronic music flourishes. This is some insanely good stuff that has reverence for all the music that it references." - Raw Select Music
"a musical force unlike any other" - Popmatters.com
SELECTED PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS
NYC Winter Jazz Festival, New York (2024)
Grand Performances, Los Angeles: Jazz in the House (2023)
Mark de Clive-Lowe x Daito Manabe, Tokyo Japan (2023)
Kravis Center, Florida: Motherland feat Eric Harland (2023)
SF Jazz, San Francisco: with Zakir Hussain + Eric Harland (2021)
Lincoln Center, New York: Motherland (2021)
La Ceiba Festival with Initiatives of Change USA: Virtual Festival (2020)
Smithsonian, Washington DC: Smithsonian Year of Music Feature Artist (2019)
SF Jazz, San Francisco: Heritage (2019)
Aratani Theater, Los Angeles: Heritage (2019)
YBCA Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco: Transform Festival (2018)
Grand Performances, Los Angeles: Mirai no Rekishi (2017)
Angel City Jazz Festival: Ford Theater, Los Angeles CA (2017)
Grand Performances, Los Angeles: Classical Remixed (2015)
Hollywood Bowl with Harvey Mason, Los Angeles CA (2015)
Millennium Stage, Chicago IL (2016)
LACMA, Los Angeles CA (2015)
Walt Disney Hall with Harvey Mason, Los Angeles CA (2015)
Noise Pop Festival, San Francisco CA (2013)
Lincoln Center Atrium, New York NY (2013)
SF Jazz, San Francisco CA (2013)
Harlem Stage with Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Harlem NY (2012)
North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam Netherlands (2012)
Tokyo Crossover Jazz Festival, Tokyo Japan (2006)
Montreal Jazz Festival, Montreal Canada (2006)
SELECTED EDUCATOR HIGHLIGHTS
Berklee College of Music: Clinician (2020, 2018)
IMEP Paris, France: Creative Workflow Masterclass (2017)
Creative Workflow Masterclass Workshops: San Jose, Costa Rica; Cologne, Germany;
Auckland, New Zealand (2012-2019)
Native Instruments Masterclass Workshops: Luanda, Angola (2014)
Ableton Live Masterclass Workshop: Berlin, Germany (2016)
Remixing Blue Note Records Masterclass: Los Angeles, CA; St Louis, MO (2014)
AWARDS/NOTABLES
Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts Residency (2024)
Montalvo Arts Lucas Artist Program Fellow (2023-2026)
2022 Connect Summit - keynote speaker, Berklee College of Music (2022)
U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Program Fellowship - JUSC/NEA (2021)
La Ceiba Festival - Initiatives of Change USA: Founding Artist in Residence (2020)
YBCA 100 - Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (2016)
RoundGlass Music Awards: nominated for best jazz composition (2017)
World Public Forum – Dialogue of Civilizations: guest speaker (Greece, 2014)
SELECTED ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY
DREAMWEAVERS (Mother Tongue) 2020
CHURCH Sessions (World Galaxy/Alpha Pup) 2019
Heritage II (Ropeadope) 2019
Heritage (Ropeadope) 2019
Ronin Arkestra - Sonkei (Albert’s Favourites) 2019
Live at the Blue Whale (Mashibeats/Ropeadope) 2017
Blue Note Remixed vol.1 (Mashibeats) 2016
CHURCH Remixed (Mashibeats/Ropeadope) 2015
CHURCH (Mashibeats/Ropeadope) 2014
Take the Space Trane (Tru Thoughts) 2013
Renegades (Tru Thoughts) 2011
Leaving this Planet (Mashibeats) 2011
Journey 2 the Light (Freedom School) 2007
THe Politik (Milan) 2007
Freesoul Sessions (Antipodean) 2007
Tide’s Arising (Columbia/ABB Soul) 2005
Melodious Beats (Antipodean) 2003
Six Degrees (Universal Jazz) 2000
Vision (Tap Records) 1997
First Thoughts (Tap Records) 1996