Jack Clift

Who is Jack Clift?

Jack Clift is an American Composer and Music Producer. He is best known for his hybrid soundscapes combining elements of American folk music, jazz and bluegrass music with traditional instruments and singers from the many countries he has visited.

Clift's recordings feature virtuoso performances from Sardegna, Turkey, Corsica, Malta, and most notably Uzbekistan where he has been a part-time resident since 2004. That was when he co-founded the American-Uzbek musical group, Jadoo. Jadoo's members are Toir Kuziev, Utkur Kadirov, Otanazar Khudaynazarov, Olim Khakimov, Nodir Umarov, Abdulakhad Abdrashidov, Matrasul Matyokubov, Gulom Mukhamedjanov and other musical contributors.

Clift has had compositions licensed by ABC for the 1996 Summer Olympics and the nationally syndicated radio program, Car Talk.

In September 2006, Clift met with John Carter Cash in Hendersonville, Tennessee where the two conceived an ambitious project melding the Central Asian influences of Jadoo with traditional American mountain music, including songs from the catalogue of the Carter Family. Clift then returned to Tashkent, Uzbekistan and met with Tatar guitarist Enver İzmaylov and the members of Jadoo for the first recording sessions of the project. Upon his return to the United States, he reconvened with Cash in Tennessee to begin introducing the contributions of mountain singer Ralph Stanley, recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 2006, country music icon Marty Stuart, The Peasall Sisters, Randy Scruggs, Ronnie McCoury, John Cowan, Greg Leisz, and Ron Miles, thus forming the group Cedar Hill Refugees. This project, titled Pale Imperfect Diamond had a limited release in 2009. "Keys to the Kingdom", featuring Ralph Stanley, was chosen to be the first track on Coal Country Music, a compilation produced by Andy Mahler and Jason Wilber as a companion to the Sierra Club film Coal Country.