Mark de Clive-Lowe

As a classically trained jazz pianist who also has three decades’ worth of experience crafting house music and experimental broken beat, Mark de Clive-Lowe is a bonafide musical unicorn. This past Saturday, flanked by some of his favorite collaborators, he unleashed his magic upon DTLA.

Performing two unforgettable sets, Mark used his keyboardist and finger drumming wizardry to loop and layer dozens of melodies and samples from his vast array of musical hardware. A driving four-on-the-floor house beat anchored both sets, but within that rhythmic structure he and his bandmates improvised and riffed off each other, like free jazz.

Seasoned jazz and house music lovers in the crowd were rewarded with bold reinterpretations of classics like Pharaoh Sanders’ “Love is Everywhere” or SOHO’s “Hot Music” but these covers would subtly morph into new compositions altogether, retaining only trace elements of the original - a single bass line or piano loop - while new live elements like @hailey_niswanger’s soaring sax or @think_say_do fierce drumming were deftly introduced.

This was music in constant flux: fearlessly layering, reshuffling, deconstructing, rearranging, and recontextualizing, all on the fly. All led by the genre-spanning genius of @markdeclivelowe. Memorable guest vocalists @syberspace @cosmic_d_trible @artisterenee & @aliyahniambi helped infuse some additional soul and grace into the performance.

The event was able to reunite LA’s various house music dance tribes and the plaza had a rare energy right from the jump, thanks to our opening DJ @coflothesoulshifter. Like Mark’s live sets, the crowd was never not moving. It was electric!

Thank you for blessing us with your talents @teodrossavery @lowleaf @antoinekatzbass @goodgold @tori.cristi @blue.desu_