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Colleen Clark

Drummer, composer and educator Colleen Clark is vibrant on the scenes in NYC and the southeastern United States. Clark has guest performed with the 8G Band on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and can most recently be heard playing on her co-led project ALLIANCE (4-star Downbeat review), Michael Dease’s “The Other Shoe” (Origin) and "Found in Space" (Origin - releasing September 2024), and upcoming releases by CC + The Adelitas, The Southern Pines, and Matt White. She has shared the stage with jazz luminaries including: Branford Marsalis, Rodney Whitaker, Catherine Russell, Camille Thurman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Mimi Jones. Clark has been featured in DOWNBEAT magazine and is also an ASCAP winning composer. Clark was invited by the ASCAP Foundation to lead her band at the Kennedy Center. She is also the Founder and Artistic Director of the University of South Carolina’s Jazz Girls Day®. Dr. Clark is the only woman and drummer to earn a doctoral degree in jazz from the University of North Texas.


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26
Album Review

Alliance: Alliance

Read "Alliance" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Alliance is an impressive all-female co-op quartet whose self-titled debut album, recorded in 2023, offers a luminous snapshot of their remarkable talent and versatility. Reed virtuoso Sharel Cassity, an alumna of New York City's world-class DIVA Jazz Orchestra, oversees the front line, while pianist Hannah Meyer provides an eloquent reciprocal perspective and shares the essential rhythmic duties with bassist Carmani Edwards and drummer Colleen Clark. Up-and-coming trumpeter Kellin Hanas makes a guest appearance on the session's closing number, Harold Mabern's ...

30
Album Review

Michael Dease: Found in Space: The Music of Gregg Hill

Read "Found in Space: The Music of Gregg Hill" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Even though all but unsung outside his customary locale, Michigan-based composer Gregg Hill has drawn into his orbit a small but well-respected circle of jazz artists including bassist Rodney Whitaker, guitarist Randy Napoleon and trombonist Michael Dease, all of whom have recorded albums dedicated to Hill's diverse and sophisticated music. Found in Space is Dease's second homage to Hill, with a third one in the planning stages. Hill's compositions, which traverse the spectrum from straight-on jazz to ...

12
Album Review

Michael Dease: Found in Space: The Music of Gregg Hill

Read "Found in Space: The Music of Gregg Hill" reviewed by Paul Rauch


Leaving a legacy in this life is a subject that holds different meanings for people. For some, it involves building a structure of permanence that will stand up to the test of time after one's entrance into eternity. For others, it is more fleeting, something that can be shaped and reshaped, and if desired, completely torn down. For some it is a function of building a monument to oneself. For others, like Central Michigan composer/arranger Gregg Hill, it is a ...

4
Liner Notes

Michael Dease: Found in Space - The Music of Gregg Hill

Read "Michael Dease: Found in Space - The Music of Gregg Hill" reviewed by Bill Milkowski


The title itself is revealing. A clever play on words of the old '60s sci-fi show Lost in Space, it immediately suggests an irreverent wit and slightly twisted perspective; qualities that also permeate the unique music of prolific Michigan-based composer Gregg Hill. How this fairly obscure presence on the national music scene has managed to garner such a fervent following remains a mystery to those of us outside the Great Lakes State. Converts include bassist-educator Rodney Whitaker, Director ...

3
Album Review

Alliance: Alliance

Read "Alliance" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


The eponymous debut from Alliance--a collective quartet spearheaded by saxophonist Sharel Cassity and drummer Colleen Clark, and harmonically hinged on pianist Hannah Mayer and bassist Carmani Edwards-- is a shining example of the strength behind a pact in play. A sorority built on substantial musical prowess and possibilities, this is a band that's locked and loaded for action. Mixing carefully-chosen covers with winning originals, Alliance confidently endears itself to ears across this nine-song program. Opening on Mulgrew ...

9
Album Review

Michael Dease: The Other Shoe: The Music of Gregg Hill

Read "The Other Shoe: The Music of Gregg Hill" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Gregg Hill is a jazz composer favored by several jazz musicians who have recorded entire albums of his work, such as guitarist Randy Napoleon and bassist Rodney Whitaker. Here trombonist Michael Dease joins the party with a full album of Hill pieces arranged for a quintet. Hill's writing on this album delves into a wide array of conventional forms such as blues, ballads, and Latin jazz, but always with unique twists and ideas present. Some of his compositions ...

5
Liner Notes

Michael Dease: The Other Shoe: The Music of Gregg Hill

Read "Michael Dease: The Other Shoe: The Music of Gregg Hill" reviewed by AAJ Staff


"Think of any big city," Greg Hill says, introducing the narrative armature of his composition, “The Other Shoe," the denouement and title track of this stimulating collaboration with Michael Dease, who arranged each of Hill's 10 compositions contained herein. “It's 2 in the morning, you're still awake, and your neighbor comes in upstairs. You hear the first clunk when his shoe hits the floor. Then you wait. He may be inebriated. It may take a while to get the other ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Alliance

Shifting Paradigm Records
2024

buy

Found in Space: The...

Origin Records
2024

buy

The Other Shoe: The...

Origin Records
2023

buy

Lose My Number

SteepleChase Records
2020

buy

The Last Pop Tune

From: Found in Space: The Music of...
By Colleen Clark

Wake Up Call

From: The Other Shoe: The Music of...
By Colleen Clark

Samba de Beach

From: Lose My Number
By Colleen Clark

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