Clare played her very first gigs with Tony Bennett, the Temptations and the Four Tops. In her 30-plus years as a professional musician, she has performed all different styles and genres of music. On the jazz side, she was a regular with the Joe Henderson Big Band,and performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Nancy Wilson, Mel Torme, Doc Severinsen, and many more. A versatile musician, she also could be heard in the pit orchestras of the Buell, Arvada Center, or Boulder Dinner Theater, as well as in the horn sections of traveling artists such as Tito Puente Jr., Natalie Cole, The Temptations, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Frankie Vallee and the Four Seasons, etc. She has been a member of the sax section of the Colorado Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Oakland Symphony, and the Boulder Philharmonic. In addition to maintaining an active schedule as a freelancing jazz drummer, Clare plays regularly at the Muse, a nonprofit music and art space that she co-founded and runs along with her husband, saxophonist Pete Lewis. She has played with all the Denver luminaries, including Ron Miles, Greg Gisbert, Art Lande, Eric Gunnison, Annie Booth, Gabe Mervine, and many more. She has been described as a sensitive, “music-first” drummer, and her many years of experience as a horn player make her drumming unique.
She has recently returned to her childhood love of singing, and released her debut vocal album, “You’re More.”
Out Now
Listen Now Watch NowPersonnel
Clare Church, drums and vocals
Pete Lewis, saxophone and flute
Cathy Pai, flute and oboe
Dave Hanson, piano
Victor Mestas, piano
Gonzalo Teppa, bass
Ron Bland, bass
Track Listing
- You’re More
- When the Day Comes
- Compulsively Punctual
- Grandma Hold You
- Just Have to Wait
- A Blues for the Muse
- Shadow
- Motherless Child