The Musicians
Chris Screven (guitars, midi instruments) began listening to jazz and playing boogie-woogie piano with his dad at the age of six. Although this process did not produce the next Pinetop Smith, it did give him an early feel for the music that became the foundation for his development as a musician. His mom, an accomplished classical flutist, also had a great deal of influence on Chris’ musical development during these early years. Having played piano, violin, French horn and drums throughout his childhood (when he wasn’t terrorizing the neighbor’s windows with his BB gun) Chris settled into playing guitar at the age of thirteen. He soon found himself playing in Chicago- style blues bands and, in his early 20’s, attended a jazz conservatory where he studied jazz guitar and theory, classical guitar and flamenco guitar. Inspired by Brazilian guitarists Bola Sete and Baden Powell, he also cultivated a passion for Brazilian music. However, a stint as an accompanist for an accordion player’s polka band convinced Chris to change his career path to engineering while keeping his soul path focused on music. Over the next thirty years, Chris continued to refine his formidable technique and unique personal style, and now plays jazz, Latin and world music with various Tucson-based ensembles including The Key Ingredients of African Soul from 2013-2017. More of Chris’ music can be found at:
Will Clipman began playing his father’s drums and his mother’s piano at the age of three. He played his first professional gig at the age of fourteen, and has since then mastered a pan-global palette of ethnic drums and percussion in addition to the traditional drumset. Will has received seven GRAMMY® Nominations, including one for his solo world music album Pathfinder. He is a three-time Native American Music Award Winner, a Canadian Aboriginal Music Award Winner, a New Age Reporter Music Award Winner, a Zone Music Reporter Award Winner, and a two-time TAMMIE Award Winner, and has been inducted into the Tucson Musicians Museum for his contributions to the musical community in his hometown. Will has recorded over seventy albums, including thirty-seven for the world’s foremost Native American music label Canyon Records. Will has performed and recorded with the world’s premier Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai for thirty years, as well as with many other internationally acclaimed artists and ensembles, and has toured throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Germany, Morocco and Russia. His solo Planet of Percussion® performance and workshop takes audiences of all ages on a world tour of rhythm and polyrhythm. For more insights into Will’s creative world, please visit:
Joe Townend (bass, concert flute, piccolo) was raised in Denville, New Jersey, a small town near the railway station from which his father used to catch the commuter train into New York City to work. At the University of Scranton, Joe learned to play upright and electric bass and joined his first band, The Druids, who recorded a few singles for Columbia Records. Joe continued playing bass as a student at Michigan State University, and then in San Francisco with the band Nazgul. In Los Angeles he recorded an album with guitarist John Ussery, which was released on Mercury Records, and played club and concert dates all over California and Nevada. In Minneapolis he was a founding member of the performance group Meeting Rivers, which combined music, dance and spoken word with a spiritual journey theme, and played with the modern country band Cactus Cadillac. Joe began studying West African percussion in Tucson in 2005 with Martin Klabunde. He was a founding member of the drum group Planet Djembe, which performed from 2010-2015. He was musical director of Bassirima Soro’s band Farafina Musiki from 2012-2013, and played bass with The Key Ingredients of African Soul from 2013-2017. He formed the drum and dance group Drum Joy and joined the band Baba Marimba in 2017, and continues with both. More of Joe’s work can be found at:
EclectiPhonics 