Rob Clearfield & Quin Kirchner - Concentric Orbits (April 1, 2022 Astral Spirits)

Happy to announce the latest from Chicago-based percussionist Quin Kirchner, this time in an intimate duo setting with France-based pianist Rob Clearfield. Concentric Orbits is Clearfield & Kirchner's gorgeous debut recording as a duo, although they have a long history of playing together over the years in Chicago.

You will likely remember Clearfield from his standout playing on Kirchner's The Shadows and The Light (2020, Astral Spirits), and here on Concentric Orbits he takes a bit more of the foreground on the piano with Kirchner's solid, driving support moving the proceedings along.

The two sidelong tracks offer different sides of the duo; "Orbit 1" dives in with a insistent and repetitive left piano groove that eventually unfolds into a splattering of free improv that subsides. Cymbals, bells and more from Kirchner lead us through the second half of the track, with Clearfield continuing variations on the original ostinato through to the ending. "Orbit 2" jumps out immediately with a percussive attack complimented by Clearfield's prepared piano that mirrors the percussive sounds without overpowering. Kirchner's groove rides powerfully through the majority of the track, with some truly stirring playing from Clearfield on the second half.

It's worth noting that Concentric Orbits came out of the same sessions as Kirchner's The Shadows and The Light. Clearfield & Kirchner happened to find themselves at the session earlier than the other musicians and decided to roll tape. The loose "let's see what happens" vibe helps give focus to why Concentric Orbits is so beautiful and important without being self-important. Even though it may not have seemed as substantial as Kirchner's album at the time, it stands on equal footing as yet another beautiful document of these players growth and maturity.

"When we were recording The Shadows and The Light, it was tricky to coordinate because I had 8 other people on the session over a couple days and no one could be there the whole time. One of the reasons we were doing the session that week was because I knew Rob was going to be in town from France and I definitely wanted him to play on it. As it turned out, he and I were the only musicians able to be there first thing on the second day, so I suggested we just record some duo things. Without any planning we just dove in, and what you hear on this album are the first two pieces we played, in order. We also did a third one - I used my sampler and Rob switched to Wurlitzer - and what we made eventually became Batá Chop on Shadows, after adding Matt Ulery & Greg Ward. I originally thought I'd use excerpts of our improvisations as vignettes on the album, but after taking in all the material from our session, it became clearer to me and Rob that it was kind of great on its own and we ought to keep it that way. We're happy to finally be presenting it to you now." - Quin 

1. Orbit 1

2. Orbit 2

3. Orbit 1 (excerpt 1)

4. Orbit 1 (excerpt 2)

5. Orbit 1 (excerpt 3)

6. Orbit 1 (excerpt 4)

7. Orbit 2 (excerpt 1)

8. Orbit 2 (excerpt 2)

9. Orbit 2 (excerpt 3)

Rob Clearfield - Piano

Quin Kirchner - Percussion

Recorded at Decade Music Studios in Chicago 9/17/19

Engineered by Nick Broste & Brian Sulpizio

Mixed by Nick Broste at Shape Shoppe

Mastered by Mikey Young

Produced by Quin Kirchner

Artwork & Layout by Mason McFee

PRE-ORDER

Hood Smoke - Live at Sleeping Village (EARS&EYES RECORDS 2018)

In the midst of an eleven show run from Colorado to Ohio in the spring of 2018, Hood Smoke performed in their hometown of Chicago at Sleeping Village. Opening with a cover of a Randy Newman song, the band continued its performance with a list of originals bursting with an energy only found outside the studio. 

Influenced by improvised music, and detailed songwriting respectively, Hood Smoke––Bryan Doherty, Jim Tashjian, Matt Gold, Michael Caskey, and Rob Clearfield––unleashed a unique sense of structure, as well as an appetite for musical adventure, that resonated within the walls of the recently opened and sonically sophisticated Sleeping Village on April 28, 2018.

Bryan Doherty - bass and vocals

Michael Caskey - drums

Rob Clearfield - organ

Jim Tashjian - guitar and vocals

Matt Gold - guitar

1. Little Criminals 03:55

2. Keeps Me Around 05:32

3. Porcelain Flowers 05:25

4. Blue Janie 04:24

5. Seneca Lake 07:01

6. Anything But The Answer 04:38

7. Regular Neurotic 07:00

8. Lone Lorraine 05:33

Recorded live at Sleeping Village in Chicago, IL on April 28, 2018 

Mixed and mastered at The Drake in Chicago, IL 

Recording Engineer - Greg Obis Chicago, IL 

Front of House Engineer - Hunter Korgel Chicago, IL

Benje Daneman's SearchParty - Light in the Darkness (August 31, 2018)

SearchParty's first album, "Light in the Darkness", a 6 movement jazz suite commissioned by Spark and Echo Arts, musically explores the age-old struggle between light and darkness in the world through Daneman's original compositions.

1. The Light 09:10

2. Eventide

3. Lamps

4. Dusk

5. Just a Little While Longer

6. Children of the Light

7. Twilight

8. (Our Fear of) Exposure

9. Darkness

10. You Are The Light

Benje Daneman's SearchParty: 

Benje Daneman - Trumpet/Flugelhorn

Ashley Daneman - Voice

Greg Ward - Alto Sax

Rob Clearfield - Piano

Andrew Vogt - Bass

Jon Deitemyer - Drums

Spoken vocals on “Children of the Life” by SearchParty

Recorded August 3rd, 2017 at Overneath Creative Collective, Kalamazoo, MI

Produced by Benje Daneman 

Co-Produced by Gordon van Gent

Recorded & Mixed by Gordon van Gent

Mastered by Garrett Gagnon

Album Artwork by Ashley Daneman

Steinway Piano in association with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra

All selections composed by Benje Daneman, except improvised tracks #2, #4, #7 and #9

“Light in the Darkness” originally commissioned by Spark & Echo Arts in 2015

Rob Clearfield - Wherever You're Starting From (2018)

Woolgathering Records is proud to announce the February 26, 2018 release of Wherever You’re Starting From, the fourth album by imaginative and innovative pianist Rob Clearfield. On the Chicago native’s second solo piano endeavor, Clearfield explores his fascination for a compositional approach to improvisation, which is highlighted through the albums distinct and dynamic sonic landscape. 

“My hope is that some of the music sounds through-composed, some sounds like simple songs, and all of it sounds spontaneous.” 

Clearfield’s compositions have been strongly influenced by his friend and colleague Makaya McCraven, the great Chicago-based drummer whose 2015 double LP In The Moment (International Anthem) is comprised of excerpts from live improvised performances. While touring together, Clearfield and Makaya had an in-depth discussion about an intriguing and innovative new approach to composing; improvising complete pieces by focusing more on individual moments. 

“If a beginning or ending is slow to arrive, but a fully-formed spontaneous idea is captured in the middle, it’s a success!” 

This new idea gave way to a renewed sense of freedom, both in the studio and during the editing process by allowing Clearfield to develop a strong ear for the elements of a piece that worked, and to then utilise, edit and produce them to a high standard, regardless of the other parts that didn’t make the cut. As a result, two tracks off the album begin with a fade-in, and one ends with a fade-out, highlighting short pieces which were originally inside larger pieces. The prologue and epilogue of the album were also chosen with this unique improvisational production approach at the forefront. Clearfield introduces and closes Wherever You’re Starting From with two takes of the same song. 

Clearfield’s progressive and virtuosic compositional skill is rooted in both classical and jazz influences. Since the release of his debut album A Thousand Words in 2009, the established composer spent a considerable amount of time studying the canon of classical piano music, particularly the romantics (Brahms, Chopin, Rachmoninoff) and the impressionists (Ravel, Debussy). 

“Their influence, particularly in regards to the textural palette of the piano, is at the forefront of the sound of this record.” 

This 12-track opus includes two freshly interpreted tracks by two of Clearfield’s musical heroes: Johannes Brahms and John Coltrane. The inclusion of their music in this project represents the varied musical traditions Clearfield has spent his life studying: classical and jazz, composition and improvisation, solo piano and group playing, European music and Black-American music. While the Brahms piece is played in a straightforward manner, sans improvisation, Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” is only faintly recognizable at first; the melody doesn’t enter for several minutes, and the rhythm is stripped away almost completely. 

Called “…one of [Chicago’s] most enjoyably unpredictable players” by Neil Tesser, Clearfield has taken part in a number of highly creative and genre-bending releases since his emergence on the scene over a decade ago. They including several releases with Matt Ulery (including 2016’s Festival, with Ulery’s Loom/Large, 2014’s In The Ivory, and 2006’s Music Box Ballerina, to name just a few), as well as with Dan Bruce (2017’s Earthshine), Adam Larson (last year’s Second City), and Jon Deitemyer (2016’s Tall Tales), among others. Clearfield’s previous releases include Islands (2016) on ears&eyes Records, The Long And Short of It (2013), a collaborative EP with Bethany Hamilton The Beauty That We Live In (2010) and his debut A Thousand Words (2009). 

With each of his musical endeavours, Clearfield has always strived to be as expressive and as personal as possible. However, Wherever You’re Starting From represents a new level of vulnerability and exposure, that until now, Clearfield had not yet experienced with any past venture. 

“Ultimately, I came to view this work as an autobiography of sorts. My trio and quintet records are like works of fiction, creating new worlds and characters in my own image. This, on the other hand, is more of a documentary. What you’re hearing is who I am, nothing more and nothing less.”

1. Prologue 03:14

2. Starchild 04:38

3. Intermezzo No. 2 in Bb Minor, Op 04:44

4. What Was Your Name Again 02:03

5. Wherever You're Starting From 01:34

6. Minor 05:47

7. Major 04:12

8. Giant Steps 07:17

9. The End 01:39

10. Blues in C 04:34

11. Alice 02:54

12. Epilogue 03:47

Rob Clearfield - piano

All songs by Rob Clearfield except “Intermezzo No. 2 in Bb Minor, Op. 117” by Johannes Brahms, and “Giant Steps” by John Coltrane.

Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Blaise Barton at Joy Ride Studio (Chicago, IL).