Greetings, One & All~

The monsoon season in the Sonoran Desert has begun, bringing the promise of life-giving rain to nurture and sustain all living things, just as the July 2022 issue of your A 440 Newsletter arrives with the promise of on-going creativity to nurture and sustain the spirit. Enjoy all the good news and be in touch!


Grace Notes

I’m honored to have had a small part in the middle movement of the expansive classical trilogy From Graceful Fields, just released on Canyon Records. The recording of the R. Carlos Nakai composition Passages marked the studio reunification of the classic Nakai Trio, and inspired a full-fledged new Nakai, Eaton & Clipman album on the Canyon label. Read on for further news on that score while listening to this one!


https://canyonrecords.com/product/from-graceful-fields-cr-7103/






Indigo Pastiche

The social music ensemble Indigo Social Club continues its sizzling summer of cool cabaret performances at Pastiche Modern Eatery, where the delectable sounds of incomparable vocalist Cantrell Maryott, inimitable composer & guitarist Marshall Jones, virtuoso bassist & violinist Rob Paulus, and pan-global percussionist Will Clipman can be savored along with the sumptuous flavors of Pastiche’s Nuevo Southwestern Americana cuisine from 6-8 PM on Tuesday July 12th and Tuesday July 26th. Our shows have been attracting a musically sophisticated crowd and a stellar constellation of Very Special Guest artists, with an emphasis on serious fun!

information & reservations at

https://www.pasticheme.com/






Trialogue

The contemporary instrumental ensemble Trialogue rides again this summer with a concert for the residents of Friendship Village in Tempe AZ on Tuesday July 19th at 7 PM. The mellifluous and multifarious musical stylings of flutist Sherry Finzer, guitarist Darin Mahoney and percussionist Will Clipman can be enjoyed on their eponymous Zone Music Award-winning album, which can be previewed and purchased at

https://www.willclipman.com/purchase_a_cd_or_dvd.php






Ubiquity

The fourth single Ubiquity, from the Evenfall EP of the same title, drops on July 8th from Heart Dance Records and can be pre-saved at:


https://lnk.dmsmusic.co/evenfall_ubiquity






Terra Incognita

And while you’re in that trance-groovy space Evenfall creates, don’t miss this gorgeous new video from Heart Dance Records for our previous single Terra Incognita:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUfaRa5uot0






Wilde Boys

Just over the horizon, The Wilde Boys ride again on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains with a concert in Montrose CO on Sunday August 7th at 4 PM. Tickets and information for this show are “coming soon” at:

https://montrosepavilion.org/Calendar.aspx?EID=2761&month=8&year=2022&day=30&calType=0


And meanwhile, A’toka Arts Management is lining up a number of other regional concert dates, so watch this space for the further Southwestern adventures of R. Carlos Nakai, William Eaton & Will Clipman!





Spiral Rendezvous

Finally, in the time-honored tradition of saving the best for last: the long-awaited and much-anticipated new Nakai, Eaton & Clipman album Spiral Rendezvous will be released by Canyon Records on August 19th! Watch this space for ordering info.







Photos of the Month

Our owlets have flown the coop: with mom’s patient encouragement, little sister and big brother are off to establish their own territories. It has been a miraculous four-month process here at Rancho Improvisoso, from site selection to nest construction to egg laying and hatching, through early development to fledging and learning to fly and hunt; and while I will miss their magical presence in my daily life, I wish them well on their journey, with hopes that mom and pop will return to this nesting site next Spring.

Four parting shots of these magnificent creatures are bracketed here by two images of our sensational Sonoran Desert skyscapes, one at sunset and one at sunrise, as the bone dry weather of late Spring turns toward the promise of life-giving monsoon rain throughout the summer. Enjoy!



Venusian Sunset, ICU Imagery




Three in the Tree, ICU Imagery




Pool Party, ICU Imagery




Benched, ICU Imagery




Startled, ICU Imagery




Sunrise Light Show, courtesy Shery Christopher Photography




Poem of the Month

While I continue to work on a new piece called Owl Medicine (which promises to be an epic and is therefore unfolding gradually over a longer creative arc) I trust you’ll enjoy another product of my most recent Memorial Day Weekend Woodside Wellness Retreat: a spontaneous melange of sensory images, with a title inspired by an off-the-cuff comment from one of the restaurant staff in response to my description of my experience of oneness with all in the redwood rhizome. (I’ve been invited back to conduct a new retreat over Labor Day Weekend, so watch this space for more good news on that.) Enjoy!


Are You Me?



The susurrus of passing traffic rises

from a remote mountain road

like a great wind through the trees.



Fog creeps in over the forest canopy

with feline grace, filtering down

into the faerie ring where we’ve gathered.



A handful of loam from the crotch

of a double-trunked redwood

smells of ancient birth, life, death

and regeneration: a tiny seed cone

holds an undiscovered world.



A raven’s distant caw answers our attention.

A curious jay lands closer by

to investigate what we’re up to.

A black squirrel’s claws

grip the bark of the tree it’s climbing

and a nut clatters down through branches

to nestle into the forest floor.

A tiny gnat floats into my field of vision,

observing me observing it.



I sit in this circle of trees with three women

whose incomparable uniqueness

expands and deepens my own.

I feel them feeling

and hear the absolute stillness

of their imaginations at work,

which makes the inaudible friction

of our pens on paper sound loud!



The aroma of gratitude fills my nostrils

as the subtle flavor of community

evanesces on my tongue.





© Will Clipman 2022








~May your summer be notably graced~









Humility is the wellspring of accomplishment.

~Guillaume Henri



Will Clipman

poet ~ percussionist ~ maskmaker ~ storyteller ~ performing artist ~ educator

www.willclipman.com
williamclipman@aol.com
facebook.com/willclipman

520.591.0776