2009 - Touring With Art Garfunkel
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What's New from Clifford
June 2007….


Clifford performed with a number of stellar artists featured in PAUL SIMON: THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS GERSHWIN PRIZE FOR POPULAR SONG at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC, on May 23.  The evening was a series of tributes from a star-studded line-up of performers and presenters celebrating Paul Simon, one of America's most respected songwriters and musicians and the first recipient of the prize.  

During the concert, Clifford performed with Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Alison Krauss, Shawn Colvin, Lyle Lovett, Yolanda Adams, Jessy Dixon, Marc Anthony, The Dixie Hummingbirds, Jerry Douglas, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Stephen Marley.  

Watch it
Wednesday, June 27, 9 p.m.,
on PBS!

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Clifford also recently performed with Stevie Nicks and Ben E. King at the memorial tribute to Ahmet Ertegun on April 17 at New York City's Rose Theatre. 

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He continues to tour this year with Art Garfunkel and Betty Buckley -- see dates below.

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December 1, 2006….

A big highlight of 2006 has been working with Art Garfunkel. 

The two of us got together earlier this year at my Secret Road studio to go over the songs that we'd be playing on the European summer tour.  I had spent time learning "Bridge Over Troubled Water," as it was obvious that this was an important tune in the upcoming shows.  We didn't play "Bridge Over Troubled Water" during the first rehearsal, and after we spoke about doing it at the next rehearsal on the following Monday, Art said that we didn't have to honor the way it was traditionally played -- we could do something new with the arrangement.  I said, "Well, I'll kick around some ideas over the weekend," so he could tell me what he thought of it on Monday.  I also said that I liked the original and that I would be happy playing it that way.  I also questioned whether his audience was ready to hear a new take of such a classic song and arrangement.  Art didn't hesitate, and he looked at me with a hint of a smile and said, "Well, we can try it a new way, and if they don't like it, I'll tell them YOU changed it!!"

I spent the weekend experimenting with some alternate chords. Initially the original harmony was like a magnet  -- my hands and ears would just go there.  But, while staying true to the original form, I tried some different "colors."  On Monday, Art and I came up with a version of "Bridge" that is a combination of some new twists and a good dose of the traditional approach.  It was really fun getting a chance to put a new stamp on such a classic.

We spent a month in Europe over the summer and returned home to do some US dates.  We're off for Hong Kong over Thanksgiving and, we'll be doing more US dates starting in January of '07.

Later in December I'll be off to Denver, Colorado for two shows of "Too Hot to Handel" with The Colorado Symphony conducted by Marin Alsop.  I've been performing this contemporary gospel/jazz hybrid of Handel's "Messiah" for the last ten-plus years.  Marin is a real supporter of new music for symphonies, and I love working with her.  She's the new music director/conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.  Congratulations to her.  I'm excited that she's going to be working on the East Coast.  The concert features three amazing singers from New York: Lillias White, Vivian Cherry, and Thomas Young.  Clint de Ganon is on drums, and Bob Christianson is on organ.  Bob co-arranged the piece.

In January of 2006, I was invited to Nashville by my friend Fred Mollin to play on a fun project that he is producing, a CD of Michelle Chadwick singing Jimmy Webb songs.  It was great to meet Michelle, immerse our selves in Jimmy's lyric/melodic/harmonic world, and play with a happening rhythm section of Chester Thompson (drums), Pat Bergeson (guitar), and Jim Ferguson (bass).  I arranged several of the tunes with a more jazz treatment than their original feel/harmonic content.  

On May 19th of 2006, I got a chance to reunite with an old friend, Narada Michael Walden.  He invited me to play in the house band for the Rainforest Foundation Fund Carnegie Hall Benefit Concert. Great band, great music (the theme was music from  the Woodstock era) and a great cause.  Narada was amazing as the music director and drummer, and there were a lot of memorable performances (artists listed below).  It was a real high to sing Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" with this amazing group of artists and friends.

I spent the first two weeks of December of 2005 touring the Czech Republic and Slovokia with a wonderful singer/songwriter from that part of the globe named Richard Muller with a great band comprised of Will Lee (bass), Omar Hakim (drums), Hiram Bullock (guitar), and Mike Caffrey (guitar).  It moved me to know that the audiences we played for were born into a society that did not allow such concerts to exist until things began to change after the fall of Communism some 17 years ago.  The shows were a blast -- the whole audience singing along in a language that I certainly couldn't understand and lots of room for all band members to stretch out.  

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