Photo Credit: Renae Wootson
Unlike other qualities, truth is absolute and absolute truth is objective. It is a concrete essence so real that once experienced it becomes an indubitable part of us. It’s the reason why our grandmother’s recipes and her version of a dish still beats the new hip restaurant that just opened up. It’s how works of art hanging from world renowned galleries draw crowds decade after decade. It’s why our favorite movies resonate with us and it’s why we re-play our favorite albums over and over again until the grooves wear out. There’s something about a person pouring their truth into something that causes it to resonate with others. This is also true for Heritage, the latest album from pianist/producer Mark de Clive-Lowe.
Released on February 8, 2019, Heritage seeks to reclaim Mark de Clive-Lowe’s Japanese ancestry and invites audiences to follow him on a journey of discovery.
“In the twenty years of putting out records, I didn’t know that I was searching for myself. I knew I was searching, but I didn’t know what I was searching for,” MdCL tells Revive during an in-person interview at a matcha bar below Los Angeles’ Blue Whale (the LA club where Heritage was recorded). It’s a search that has taken him from his hometown of New Zealand to London, where he became a major player in the broken beat sound, to his current home in LA.
This is the third time we’ve caught up with MdCL. The inaugural chat was a discussion about his critically-acclaimed 2014 release CHURCH followed by an interview about his #bluenoteremixed vol. 1 back in 2016. While it’s safe to say that we’ve always been big supporters of MdCL’s music, Heritage felt a little different in comparison to his discography. His previous records wowed and dazzled you with the skills on display. Heritage does that as well, but it also acts like a window into an artist’s journey as well as a mirror for your own. Heritage is an open book that invites listeners to explore ideas of ancestry and identity. Whereas MdCL made records in the past to showcase certain producer and instrumental skills, Heritage is a honest account of where he stands today in relation to his past.
What is really striking about this album is how much piano you’re playing.
I’ve always played piano. It’s my first instrument. I just had that ten year period in London that I didn’t play. I didn’t want to play it and I didn’t want to do anything that had to do with piano. I was Judas to it basically. I feel like I had to reach my own relationship with the piano because I was forced onto the piano at a very young age. I didn’t choose the instrument.
My time in Los Angeles has really re-connected me to it. For people who live in LA and see me playing, it’s normal. I might do a Dwight Trible gig, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson gig, or I might be at the Blue Whale and it’s very piano-centric. But this is the first record where I’ve put the piano at the front in a very long time.
Well that’s what was so interesting about this particular MdCL album. It’s not that you’ve never played piano, but a track like “Akatombo” is so beautifully stripped down and it’s refreshing to hear you in this light.
I was more interested in the production world before. So piano was a timbre than a voice. I came to realize that my voice with music is on the piano and everything else is seasoning. I love everything else from electronics, sampling, and programming, but it’s seasoning.
“Akatombo” is a good case in point. The whole project is so much about matriarchy and mother; her being the Japanese parent. I grew up singing [“Akatombo”] to me and it’s so personal. It was cool to take that song into the piano. That’s all it needs.
This isn’t the first time you’ve mentioned being a Judas to the piano. You briefly mentioned it during our first interview when CHURCH came out. But with this album and Live at The Blue Whale, it seems that this instrument that was forced on you is now making a comeback into the forefront.
It’s been gradual. I’ve had experiences in LA where playing with Dwight Trible’s band and Ethiocali made me play piano. Those bands really helped me reconnect with the instrument.
I remember being out with Harvey Mason and we were playing at the Blue Note in Japan and Miles Mosley was on bass. It was this killing gig and it was so much fun. I also have all these electronics in Harvey’s band and I remember Miles at the first gig saying, “All that shit is cool, but your voice is on the piano.”
I’ve heard that reflected back to me in numerous different ways and I totally embrace that now. I’m also content with being who I am. I think I grew up aspiring to my influences with what Kenny Kirkland was doing. Kenny — to this day — is in my top three. No question. But, what’s so great about Kenny is that he sounds like Kenny.
You can hear a bit of those Kenny licks on a track like “Bushido.”
Yes. There’s definitely inspiration there, but I’m also just cool with sounding how I sound. For a long time ago, I wasn’t like that. For a while it was like, “I want to sound like that!” But, no… I sound like me.
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