Cleve Pozar's magnificent solo percussion album (called, uh, Solo Percussion), has made the blog rounds, though it seems like Cleve's music is still mysteriously unknown to many, even those who might care to look. Ostensibly rooted in jazz, Cleve's two singular early records, Solo Percussion and Good Golly Miss Nancy, embody various pan-African, Latin, Indian and Indonesian rhythms as well as some pretty wild tape and synth manipulations, both of which come off less as rootless experimentation and more as something extremely personal, like an x-ray view of an artist's body and soul.
Cleve Pozar - Echo Afrika (from Solo Percussion LP)
Cleve Pozar - Good Golly Miss Nancy (from Good Golly Miss Nancy LP, under the name Robert F. Pozar)
Cleve's been bouncing around NYC for years and has worked in a wide variety of musical settings. From the looks of his video posts, his more recent focus has been Latin electronic percussion, as well as bata drumming, a centuries old Afro-Cuban percussion style with deep roots in the Santeria religion, used for prayer and ceremonial purposes. Thanks to Cleve for permission to use the music and videos. Check out his YouTube page for more where this came from.
Wow, a very cool introduction to Cleve Pozar! Thank you for this post, Scott.
Posted by: Katya Oddio | May 20, 2008 at 04:14 PM
Thank you for the wonderful write up on Cleve. He is by far an outstanding master in music. His story and his music are both remarkable.
Posted by: cathy | July 25, 2008 at 08:28 PM
I have been looking for cleve for over 30 years, could someone give him my Email address: motodepo@hotmail.com
Posted by: ed curran | October 24, 2008 at 04:13 PM