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Dawn Clement

Northwest based pianist/composer/vocalist Dawn Clement has established herself as one of the most sought after musicians working today. With her joyful presence, consummate technique and distinctive sound, Clement has gained the attention and respect of musicians, critics and fans through the US and abroad. “In all this world of jazz, there are very few individual voices, no matter what the instrument, but Dawn has come up with a voice that’s unique…” says legendary jazz trombonist Julian Priester.

With 5 CD’s under her belt, not to mention, appearing as a side woman on Jane Ira Bloom’s latest release Wild Lines and Emi Meyer’s Monochrome, Dawn has been hailed as the “Wonder Woman of Seattle” by Paul DeBarros (Seattle Times). With her newest release, Tandem, she explores the magic of musical pairs with some of her closest musical cohorts.

Clement has a slew of honors under her belt: from competing in the prestigious Mary Lou Williams Piano Competition, to winning three Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Awards, to playing alongside jazz luminaries like Ingrid Jensen, Matt Wilson, and George Cables. Her compositions range from songs for string quartet & voice to a suite for viola and piano to tunes for jazz quintet to original blues arrangements for a murder mystery play. Clement thrives on collaboration with artists and improvisers from all walks of life.

Clement holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Music Composition from Vermont College of Fine Arts and since 2000, she’s served as an adjunct instructor at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. When she isn’t playing, composing, touring, or teaching, Clement lives in Seattle with her husband and three children, Noah, Elvin, and Della.

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4
Album Review

Esthesis Quartet: Time Zones

Read "Time Zones" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


The four members of Esthesis Quartet, flutist Elsa Nilsson, pianist Dawn Clement, bassist Emma Dayhuff and drummer Tina Raymond, each live in different parts of the United States, but, as this album shows, when they get together their playing has an easy and natural rapport. With flute as a lead instrument, the group sometimes have the cooler sound associated with West Coast jazz as on the breezy “Hollywood" and the gentle “First Light." However, over the course of ...

32
Album Review

Esthesis Quartet: Time Zones

Read "Time Zones" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Time Zones is the second album by the Esthesis Quartet, comprised of four accomplished women, all whom do indeed reside in different time zones. Flutist Elsa Nilsson, originally from Sweden, lives in Brooklyn, NY; pianist/vocalist Dawn Clement makes her home in Denver, CO; bassist Emma Dayhuff lives in Chicago, drummer Tina Raymond in California, where Time Zones was recorded. The four first met at various festivals, conventions and other sessions around the country, drawn together by a ...

5
Album Review

Dawn Clement, Elsa Nilsson, Emma Dayhuff, Tina Raymond: Esthesis Quartet

Read "Esthesis Quartet" reviewed by Paul Rauch


The Covid-19 lockdown of 2020 and 2021 mandated that musicians find ways to connect without gathering in person. The pandemic produced a litany of recordings that along with photos of masked loved ones, will serve as tacit reminders of two years of solitude and isolation. For Esthesis Quartet this meant gathering on Zoom to keep the creative juices flowing, and to continue to write inspired music with the quartet in mind. While it is undeniable that this recording bears the ...

10
Album Review

Dawn Clement: Tandem

Read "Tandem" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


It only takes one listen to Tandem to understand that pianist-vocalist Dawn Clement is a people person with a penchant for trying different things. That openness to various individuals and action points shows itself to be the heart of this collection of duo performances. Despite being a prominent presence on the Seattle scene, working with high profile leaders like soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom, and having a handful of highly praised albums under her own name, Clement ...

10
Interview

Dawn Clement: Here In The Moment

Read "Dawn Clement: Here In The Moment" reviewed by Paul Rauch


Dawn Clement is like a primal force of nature. From being the mother of three young children, to her professorship at Cornish College of the Arts, to her performing career as a touring and recording artist, she maintains a musical standard of excellence achieved by very few. Her piano style is strong and versatile, whether she is playing at the most intense tempo, or in more tender and vulnerable moments colored in alluring sincerity. The evening before I ...

1
Live Review

Dawn Clement Trio at Kitano

Read "Dawn Clement Trio at Kitano" reviewed by Tyran Grillo


Dawn Clement Trio Jazz at Kitano New York City August 10, 2017 Pianist Dawn Clement is rare for eliciting a classic vibe, yet with such freshness as to never be stale. There's a meatiness to her chord structures and a lithe robustness to her soloing that adds new shades of density to even the most threadbare tunes. For a 10pm set at New York's refined Kitano jazz space, bassist Dean Johnson and drummer Matt ...

327
Album Review

Dawn Clement: Hush

Read "Hush" reviewed by Alexander M. Stern


Despite the groans of many contemporary jazz listeners, I happen to believe that we’re living in a particularly exciting period for jazz. There is a truly mind-boggling array of talent out there, both known and unknown, and it’s a great joy to listen to it grow and expand. The early 21st century might well go down in history as the most fertile jazz era since the fifties.

If I were to voice one complaint about jazz these ...

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74

Performance / Tour

Jazz Northwest: Dawn Clement

Jazz Northwest: Dawn Clement

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene

The Dawn Clement Trio plays an Art of Jazz Concert at The Seattle Art Museum on the next Jazz Northwest at 1 PM PT on Sunday, February 21 on 88.5, KPLU. Dawn Clement is pianist, singer and leader of this trio with Geoff Harper on bass and Jaz Sawyer on drums. Ms.Clement also performs with the Julian Priester Quartet and Jane Ira Bloom Quartet in addition to leading her own groups. She has performed frequently in Seattle as well as ...

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Radio

Comes the Dawn

Comes the Dawn

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

(All right, the headline is a cheap play on words. I tried to resist.)

Speaking of Dawn Clement (see the next exhibit), Jim Wilke will broadcast her trio in concert next Sunday, February 21, at 1 PM Pacfiic Standard Time. It will be on Wilke's Jazz Northwest program on KPLU-FM, the Seattle-Tacoma jazz station. He recorded the concert, which was part of the Seattle Art Museum's Art of Jazz series. The trio is Ms. Clement, piano; Geoff Harper, bass; Jazz ...

149

Recording

Jane Ira Bloom "Mental Weather" with Dawn Clement, Mark Helias, and Matt Wilson Now Available

Jane Ira Bloom "Mental Weather" with Dawn Clement, Mark Helias, and Matt Wilson Now Available

Source: All About Jazz

Award winning soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom has a new album on an old label. After thirty years Jane has returned to her original LP label that she began when she first started her career in New Haven, CT - Outline Records. Her electro-acoustic band brings together fellow 70's New Havenite Mark Helias on bass, drummer Matt Wilson, and Seattle new comer Dawn Clement on keyboards for Bloom's 13th and most recent recording. The band recorded Mental Weather after premiering ...

150

Event

Dawn Clement and Marit Peters team up for Rainier Scholars

Dawn Clement and Marit Peters team up for Rainier Scholars

Source: All About Jazz

JUNE 5TH, 2005, (SEATTLE, WA) – Dawn Clement and Marit Peters (piano/vocals jazz duo) will play at the L.A.B. (all ages performance space behind Seattle Drum School – 12510 15th Ave NE). The show starts at 7:30 pm. Admission is $15 for this benefit concert for Rainier Scholars. Rainier Scholars prepares kids of color from low resource schools for more rigorous academics. Marit Peters, jazz vocalist who won the SAMMIE award for Best New Artist in 2000, joins forces with ...

Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

Seattle

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Time Zones

ears&eyes Records
2023

buy

Esthesis Quartet

Orenda Records
2022

buy

It's My Turn to Color...

Origin Records
2022

buy

Tandem

Origin Records
2018

buy

Break

Origin Records
2008

buy

Hush

Conduit Records
2003

buy

Bebop Lives (Boplicity)

From: It's My Turn to Color Now
By Dawn Clement

I Think of You

From: Tandem
By Dawn Clement

2-Day

From: Break
By Dawn Clement

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