Recording: Rob Clutton Trio with Kurt Newman

Artist: Rob Clutton Trio with Kurt Newman

Song: [1st piece, excerpt]

Recorded at Standard Time (TONE presents), May 17, 2024.

Rob Clutton Trio with Kurt Newman - [1st piece, excerpt]

Opening things up at this pre-festival night from the TONE team was this sort of Rat-Drifting all-star combo crew, with Kurt Newman (on pedal steel) augmenting bassist Rob Clutton's trio (including Karen Ng on sax and Nick Fraser on drums). Besides the immedediate differences from having Newman on board, the room (a pleasingly loft-like space a bit reminiscent of the Jam Factory, perfectly suited for seeing a Tad Michalak-curated show) also provided some different sonics, with the well-mic'ed band having a beefier sound than you might get at the Southern Cross — and keeping Clutton's bass from getting buried under other sounds. Newman used his pedalboard to find sounds that moved beyond trad pedal steel, sometimes doubling the sax and sometimes merging into Clutton's arco work.

[This quartet will be back in action at Karen Ng's monthly night at Wenona Lodge on Tuesday, June 18th.]