Christopher Lowell Clarke is a jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader.
about christopher
Christopher Lowell Clarke is a trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He received his musical education from the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, majoring in music and minoring in technical theater. During his time at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, he performed in the symphonic band, orchestra, and jazz band, and in the musical theater pit orchestra for Sophisticated Ladies, Peter Pan, The Wiz, The Sound of Music, Annie Get Your Gun, and Ain’t Misbehavin’.
Christopher continued his studies at the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, where he studied with Pat Harbison and majored in jazz and studio music performance. During this time, he was a recipient of the Fish Middleton Rising Jazz Artist Scholarship and performed in the jazz ensemble with Joe Henderson, Gordon Brisker, Bill Waltrous, Byron Stripling, Slide Hampton, Bobby Shew, and Joe Lovano, as well as in a small combo with Jamie Abersold.
Christopher's professional performance experience includes playing with the East Coast Jazz Festival Fish Middleton Rising Star Band in Baltimore, Carnival Cruise Lines Main Orchestra and Jazz Chair, the Johnny Nocturne Band at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Orvieto, Italy, his own quintet at the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco, and the Contemporary Music Orchestra at the Monterey Jazz Festival. He has also performed with Eddie Marshall and Holy Mischief, the Marcus Shelby Big Band, the Howard Wiley Quintet, and the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra. For the past 20 years, Christopher has performed regularly at Café Mocca in historic Maiden Lane in San Francisco with Dewayne Oakley, gaining worldwide and local recognition and notoriety. The two were known by many as San Francisco’s best kept secret and had tourists returning year after year to see them perform. The duo also released several albums together. In 2018, Christopher accompanied Dewayne Oakley on a tour in Nagoya, Japan.
In addition to performing, Christopher has also been teaching in various capacities for the past several years. He currently serves as a teaching artist for SF Jazz/Oakland Public Conservatory After School Jazz Program, Oakland Public Conservatory, SF Jazz’s Jazz In Session Program, Oaktown Jazz Workshop, and the Lafayette Summer Jazz Camp. He also offers private lessons to young people and adults.
Christopher has released several albums, including The Swooper on Lifeforce Records 1018 and multiple albums with Dewayne Oakley on Naki-Do Records Christopher Lowell Clarke Dewayne Oakley Duo 1st, 2nd, and 3rd session. He has also been featured on albums such as Homage To Cuba by Idris Ackamoor on Strut Records and Dewayne Oakley Blues Ensemble Live At Small Wonder Volumes 1 and 2, Just Blue on Naki-Do Records. His debut solo album The Swooper is available to purchase and listen to here.