mark de clive-lowe: heritage II

The half-Japanese half-New Zealander, Mark de Clive-Lowe 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. Recorded over three nights live at LA’s Blue Whale and one subsequent day in a North Hollywood studio, both Heritage albums were made on the spot. Nothing you hear is overdubbed or the result of post-production. De Clive-Lowe’s live workflow is captivating, easily juggling on grand piano, synths, drum machines, samplers and more to create layer-upon-layer of musical stories in real time.

The opening two compositions set the scene for Heritage II - the flipside of the coin to Heritage - continuing the same story, same themes, but with new perspectives. The composer balances distant sonic aesthetics and stylistic approaches in unexpected ways, result of his eclectic tendencies for jazz, hip hop, drum’n’bass, house, broken beat. Like his peers Kamasi Washington, Makaya McCraven and Robert Glasper, de Clive-Lowe isn’t content to simply play the jazz lane, purposefully reaching across a diverse palette of genres and influences to create something quite unlike anything else. The cast of musicians joining him is world-class.

Day turns to night as Mark de Clive-Lowe’s Heritage II takes us from the meditative zen of the first part, into a world of jazz and Japanese roots culture fused with hip hop, drum’n’bass and broken-beat. A transmission from the past to the future, both volumes of the Heritage series are a pieces of collection that can be heard again and again through the years. Vinyl editions are available worldwide, with the album’s original artwork created by Tokio Aoyama.