Steve Clisby at Jazz Up North at Tanks
One of Australia's kings of cool makes a welcome return to Tanks Arts Centre for Jazz Up North tonight.
Born in California, Steve Clisby is a true master of jazz, soul, funk and R’n’B and was a favourite of the Jazz Up North series when he last breezed through town a few years ago.
Clisby’s musical roots can be traced back to growing up in the US, playing piano and saxophone from age seven, alongside singing and studying music throughout high school.
When he graduated, he travelled throughout Europe to expand his musical horizons and after tasting the life of a working musician in Spain, decided to make it his career.
Steve returned to the US for a few years, where he further developed his pianist and vocal techniques, but was drawn back to the musical buzz of Europe and settled in Holland, which at the time was the musical epicentre of Europe.
His band American Gypsy would be the first to see success, touring extensively through Germany, Denmark, Spain, UK, Belgium and more, going on to become one of Europe’s go-to names in soul and funk.
Their self-titled album produced a string of hits and led to Steve performing alongside some of the world’s biggest names, including Chaka Khan, Hot Chocolate, Kool and the Gang, Crusaders, Mothers Finest, Level 42, Santana, James Cotton Blues Band, Charles Lloyd , Frank Zappa and Taj Mahal.
After years of success, a chance meeting with CG productions founder Charles Graham saw Steve make the move to Australia in 1999, kicking off joint production company Miracle8.
Australia soaked up the fresh sounds of Steve and he has since carved a solid reputation as a performer, producer, artist development specialist, lecturer at SAE (School of Audio Engineering, Sydney), and popular session singer.
Ever the crowd pleaser, Steve will show Tanks audiences exactly why he’s considered one of the smoothest voices in Australia tonight at Jazz Up North.
>> Jazz Up North with Steve Clisby is at Tanks Arts Centre tonight, from 7.30pm. Tickets are $30/$25, available from ticketLINK on 1300 855 835.
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King of cool: Californian-born, Australian-based jazz, funk and soul vocalist and pianist Steve Clisby.
