Greetings, One & All~

My 70th birthday coincided with both the 55th anniversary of the first Moon Landing and a full Buck Moon rising over the Sonoran Desert. There is much to contemplate at three score and ten; a lot to be grateful for as my next orbit around the sun proceeds; and a good bit of creativity to share. So, in the midst of record-breaking heat here on Earth, I will infuse this midsummer issue of your A 440 Newsletter with a bit of cool, calm, reflective moonlighting!


~Be well and be in touch~



Soundbath + Concert
Pan-global percussionist and seven-time GRAMMY® Nominee Will Clipman and renowned multi-instrumentalist Rob Paulus celebrate the release of their new album Wait For Me with a soundbath and concert at Sea of Glass Center for the Arts on Saturday September 21st, which is auspiciously both the Autumn Equinox and World Peace Day. Will + Rob will be joined by internationally acclaimed vocalist SOLVEI for this one-of-a-kind sonic adventure.

The soundbath commences at 11 AM: immersing participants in a soothing, healing balance of subtle percussive pulsation, vibrantly sensitive strings, and harmoniously humanizing voice. Participants are encouraged to wear comfy clothing and bring a yoga mat for this hour-long multi-sensory voyage on a sea of peaceful sound.

The concert kicks off at 7:30 PM: the masterful musicianship and improvisational simpatico of these three visionary talents will transport the audience to unexplored realms of imagination and emotion, showcasing themes and variations from the music on Wait For Me AND the new SOLVEI album Connection, which also features Will and Rob. Sit still and be entranced or move to the groove and dance: either way, pure joy will be the order of the day!


info & tickets at

https://theseaofglass.org/events/643/morning-soundbath


https://theseaofglass.org/events/644/equinox-concert












New Single

And speaking of CONNECTION, the new single from that album Take Me Down just dropped on Apple Music, with other downloading and streaming platforms to follow. This spooky-cool and sinuously sensuous groove weaves the signature SOLVEI vocals, mythopoetic lyricism and super-hip midi-instrumentals with the acoustic North African-Mediterranean vibe of Will’s tar (his large frame drum from that region, recorded LIVE right here in The Boom Boom Room at Rancho Improvisoso utilizing Solvei’s mobile studio) and Rob’s lithe and lissome violin and thumping upright bass (DITTO) into a dreamy triple helix soundscape perfect for late-night shadow dancing by candlelight.


https://music.apple.com/us/album/take-me-down-single/1762692747


AND treat yourself to the mystical, magical, mysterious and marvelous video SOLVEI has created for the song: she has become a self-made master of the music video artform and has really outdone herself with this one!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXu80RDIrPw








CanvasRebel Interview

An in-depth interview with yours truly is featured in the new issue of the cutting-edge online magazine CanvasRebel, which focuses its storytelling format on entrepreneurs, small business owners and independent artists who are breaking conventional molds and forging successful careers on their own terms in creative new ways. Enjoy my spirited Q&A at the link below, and explore the inspiring world of CanvasRebel with an eye to sharing you own story!


https://canvasrebel.com/meet-will-clipman/




Silence and Space

Timelessness takes time, as Guillaume Henri has sagely opined elsewhere in these pages, and that has certainly been the case with the genre-transcending new album Silence and Space, slated for a late 2024 vinyl release on the Round Sound label.

A 2018 concert performance inside the astounding acoustic environment of the iconic TANK Center for Sonic Arts in Rangely CO, recorded live in its entirety by three-time GRAMMY® winning producer Tom Wasinger of Subterranean Recording, this otherworldly sonic voyage will take you from The Big Bang through the creation and evolution of the universe right up to to the threshold of your next breath and heartbeat in the eternal present. If that sounds like hype, wait ’til you hear it!

Mixed by TANK founder and Creative Director Bruce Odland and mastered right here in The Old Pueblo by Jim Blackwood at Blackwood Mastering, this expansive sonic dialogue between the Native American flute of R. Carlos Nakai and the pan-global percussion of Will Clipman offers a new paradigm for the human experience of musical sound.

AND it’s not too late to sign on to this epochal project as an Executive Producer by reaching out to TANK Executive Director James Paul at james@tanksounds.org .


Watch this space for an official release date and ordering info!








Studio News

Throughout this summer of record-breaking heat, I’ve enjoyed the unimaginable luxury of being able to re-focus the locus of my musical activity from stage to studio, with an eclectic menu of tasty new projects simmering on both front and back burners, alongside proven favorite recipes marinating on the side bar.


Come Back to Love

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Jim Pavett at Allusion Studios, this album by classical vocalist, cellist, harmonium and shruti box player Abigail Earthshine and pan-global percussionist Will Clipman spans the musical spectrum from incantatory chants and irresistible dance grooves to meditative soundscapes and fully orchestrated anthems, all seamlessly coalescing around the intimate conversation between Abigail’s exquisite voice and Will’s earthy drums.



To My Light

This cycle of meditative and devotional chants set to acoustic guitar by Hebrew priestess Lori Sumberg (also recorded, mixed and mastered by Jim Pavett at Allusion Studios) is intended to balance the traditionally dominant masculine paradigm with a strong and original feminine voice, conveying a message of peace and harmony through music, with yours truly holding the heartbeat on pan-global drums and percussion.



Between Lives

Between Lives is slated to be the first single drop from the brand-new collaboration between electronic composer, lyricist and multi-harmonic vocalist Seko House (aka, Max McGleughlin) and yours truly on pan-global drums and percussion (recorded LIVE right here in The Boom Boom Room at Rancho Improvisoso utilizing Max’s mobile studio) in a projected album’s worth of material, with the second single It Pulls You out for final mixing and mastering, and most tracks for a third single Who Knew already laid.



Wisdom Tree Sessions

The William Eaton Ensemble will continue to lay tracks for a projected new album (their first since the epic 2003 Canyon Records double album Sparks and Embers, recorded, mixed and mastered by legendary engineer Jack Miller) at William’s Wisdom Tree Studio in Sedona AZ, with new sessions booked on August 21st-22nd.



One World Radio

As you know, I consider myself a world musician whose aspiration is always to make timeless music; so hearing that the song Magicians of the Red Wind from the 1998 Canyon Records album Red Wind by R. Carlos Nakai, William Eaton & Will Clipman is still getting international airplay over a quarter-century on is a tremendous affirmation! You can enjoy the song at the 18:45 mark in the show Native Circle #100, hosted by David Rose on the UK station One World Radio at the link below, and by all means listen to the entire show to hear ALL the wonderful indigenous world music David plays!


https://www.oneworldmusicradio.com/david-rose


AND if this classic Nakai, Eaton & Clipman album isn’t already in your music library, you can preview and order it directly from Canyon Records at

https://canyonrecords.com/product/r-carlos-nakai-william-eaton-will-clipman-red-wind-cr-7017/







Fire & Rain

As fabulous as the flora and fauna have been and continue to be here at Rancho Improvisoso, I am focusing on our spectacular monsoon skyscapes for this midsummer portfolio of nature photos. Enjoy!


A full moon rose on the summer solstice, lending cool lunar light to the hot desert night.





The summer solstice moonrise gave way to this smoldering sunset the following day.





This towering thunderhead presaged our first major monsoon storm. For a sense of scale: those small bumps at the bottom of the frame are the Santa Catalina Mountains, which rise to an elevation of over 9000′ along the northeastern rim of the Tucson valley.





Not to be outdone, these clouds of molten gold completed the alchemy of the storm.





In the incessant rhythm of the monsoon cycle, this calm tableau set the stage for yet another storm as it circled the valley and settled over Rancho Improvisoso.





As if to bookend the clouds of molten gold, the new storm poured out these quicksilver formations in its wake.





It’s easy to wax poetic when the rays of the late afternoon sun begin to penetrate the heavy overcast left behind by the departing storm!





And perhaps even more so once the sun has dipped below the horizon to illuminate the gathering darkness from underneath!





The next lunar cycle came full circle with the birthday gift of a full Buck Moon.





And to end on a mystical note: the waxing crescent moon sculpted this complex formation into what looks like a second taller mountain range further out in the distance, but which is actually a low-lying cloudbank. Seeing is believing, and believing is seeing?!







New Poem




The Vastness



zero three thirty

three score and ten



the full buck moon goes down

behind a jagged black horizon



in this dark world of sleepless dreams

we exist as distant mountain ranges



I ache to reach across

the vastness between us



the space between breaths

the silence between heartbeats



to be at last the vastness itself

no longer you or me but we







© Will Clipman 2024










~Walk in beauty with a cool body~










Hope is more powerful than despair.

~Guillaume Henri



Will Clipman

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

www.willclipman.com
williamclipman@aol.com
facebook.com/willclipman
https://www.youtube.com/@willclipman4187

520.591.0776