Pianist Rob Clearfield brings 'Ashes and Diamonds' album to Merrimans' Playhouse

SOUTH BEND — Pianist Rob Clearfield performs at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at Merrimans' Playhouse, 401 E. Colfax Ave., Suite 135.

A Chicago native now based in France, Clearfield's touring in support of his new album, "Ashes and Diamonds": a continuous, five-movement suite exploring the nature of transitions from one era to another and how cataclysmic events bring about both positive and negative changes.

Borrowing its title from Andrzej Wadja's 1958 film, Clearfield takes a cinematic approach to composition as he blurs the lines between modern-jazz and contemporary classical vocabularies and paradigms.

The COVID-19 pandemic was in the foreground of the writing process. Clearfield started writing in earnest in September 2020 while sick in bed with the virus.

Still relegated to a bedroom quarantine, he worked out his ideas on an un-amplified electric guitar and clicked the notes into notation software one by one.

The album is Clearfield's first record of all-original compositions in seven years. Following his 2016 trio effort, "Islands," Clearfield released a mostly improvised solo piano album, "Whatever You're Starting From," and co-led projects with Caroline Davis ("Anthems," 2019) and Quin Kirchner ("Concentric Orbits," 2022).

The band on the album and the tour includes alto saxophonist Greg Ward, bassist Sam Weber and drummer Quin Kirchner.

Tickets are $10-$5.

For more information, call 574-310-9977 or visit merrimansplayhouse.org .

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Pianist brings 'Ashes and Diamonds' album to Merrimans' in South Bend