Hometown Hero Returns with Jazz-Funk Trio to Play Castle Street Cafe

Bill Athens, Jesse Brooke and Galen Clark are Trio Subtonic

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – On Saturday, June 2, 2012, Great Barrington native Galen Clark returns home with his Portland, Oregon-based electronic jazz group, Trio Subtonic, to Castle Street Café, as part of an East coast tour celebrating the release of their third recording, I’ll Meet You There Tomorrow.

Trio Subtonic evolved from a long-time collaboration between keyboardist Galen Clark and drummer Jesse Brooke. After spending the winter of 2005 abroad studying music, Clark and Brooke returned to Portland and teamed up with bassist Bill Athens. The resulting mix of groove-based improvisation, instrumental funk, and rhythm and blues began to develop as the members continued to write and freelance in projects of various genres in the Pacific Northwest and tour on both coasts.

The trio recorded its first album, The Aqueous, in 2007, following it with the acclaimed Cave Dweller in 2009. With the release of I’ll Meet You There Tomorrow, ranging from the gospel-laced “There We Were” to the Stevie Wonder-meets-Medeski Martin & Wood on the way to New Orleans “High Country,” it’s apparent that Trio Subtonic’s unique brand of groove-based instrumental funk hits the head, the heart, and the feet.

Galen Clark grew up in Massachusetts in a very musical household where he was exposed to everything from Bill Evans to the Beatles. His influences have evolved from years of studying and playing jazz, western classical, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music, hip-hop and rock. Clark earned a BA in Music Composition from Lewis & Clark College in 2003, where he studied with composer Forrest Pierce and jazz pianist Randy Porter. Clark also studied with Jeff Gardner in Brazil and John Medeski in New York. In the summer of 2005, Clark formed Trio Subtonic with long-time friend and collaborator, Jesse Brooke. Soon after, they joined forces with the local rising bass star Bill Athens. Along with his duties in Trio Subtonic, Clark performs solo and collaborates with some of Portland’s finest, most notably, Scott Pemberton, the Jazz Composers Ensemble, Body Vox Dance Company, Joe Powers, Sean Flinn, and Hannah Penn, among others.

 

 

 

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