{"id":7564,"date":"2016-06-02T20:19:32","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T03:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=7564"},"modified":"2016-06-02T20:19:32","modified_gmt":"2016-06-03T03:19:32","slug":"review-meet-rob-clearfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2016\/06\/review-meet-rob-clearfield\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Meet Rob Clearfield"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Rob Clearfield<\/strong>, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Islands-Rob-Clearfield\/dp\/B01FW6AA4W\/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;tag=rifftidougram-20\">Islands<\/a><\/em> (ears &amp; eyes records)<\/p>\n<p>Pianist and composer Rob Clearfield is a member of Chicago\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s under-30 jazz community, <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7565\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Clearfield-Islands.jpg\" alt=\"Clearfield Islands\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Clearfield-Islands.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Clearfield-Islands-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Clearfield-Islands-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>admired for work as a sideman with bassist Matt Ulery and pianist-singer Patricia Barber, among others. He debuts as a leader with a trio album due out June 3 that is peaceful, almost placid\u00e2\u20ac\u201dexcept for the moments when Clearfield\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s energy and unconventional harmonic content combine to create force fields that can take a listener by surprise. It happens in his first tune, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153With and Without,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and often throughout the album. The soft sell of the promotional video clip featuring the title tune gives little indication of the album\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s variety and moments of excitement.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6U5RkVe8B4g?rel=0\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Sometimes the excitement is in the layer of interplay between Curt Bley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bass and Quin Kirchner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drums, as in the piece&#8221;\u00a0named for one of Clearfield\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heroes, the guitarist Ralph Towner of the band Oregon. In other tracks, the surprise sneaks up on the listener. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Antidote\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a calm solo piano piece until Bley <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-7566\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Clearfield-at-mic.png\" alt=\"Clearfield at mic\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Clearfield-at-mic.png 200w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Clearfield-at-mic-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Clearfield-at-mic-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>and Kirchner inject it with a welling rhythm. In the title track, Clearfield (pictured) plays piano and electric organ simultaneously, driven by Kirchner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s insistent 4\/4 beat of a stick on a snare drum. As the piece closes, Clearfield melds back into keyboard serenity that contrasts with the rhythm that yields ever so slightly. In a tune with the picaresque title \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pierce is Kind of a Weird Name for a Street,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the trio breaks up the time without losing the swing; a neat trick.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Here is Clearfield in his pre-leader days with bassist Matt Ulery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s band called Loom as they visited Washington, DC in 2013 and played a National Public Radio Tiny Desk Concert. The band is Ulery, bass; Clearfield, keyboards and accordion; Marquis Hill, trumpet; Geof Bradfield, bass clarinet; and Joe Dietemyer, drums. The compositions, both by Ulery, are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Coriander\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My Favorite Stranger.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Vs80WYJmVaw?rel=0\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Rob Clearfield, a Chicagoan worth keeping an ear on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rob Clearfield, Islands (ears &amp; eyes records) Pianist and composer Rob Clearfield is a member of Chicago\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s under-30 jazz community, admired for work as a sideman with bassist Matt Ulery and pianist-singer Patricia Barber, among others. He debuts as a leader with a trio album due out June 3 that is peaceful, almost placid\u00e2\u20ac\u201dexcept for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}