MUSIC.
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OTHER STUFF.
Praised as “haunting” (Chicago Tribune), “very intriguing and attractive” (Journal of Singing), and “a tour de force” (Chicago Classical Review), the music and multimedia work of Joe Clark is an ambitious synthesis of traditions in “an emphatic new voice that should be heard” (All About Jazz).
Clark's compositions and arrangements have been performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Yo-Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Jeff Hamilton, Randy Brecker, Jon Faddis, Marquis Hill, Kurt Elling, Phil Woods, Ira Sullivan, Julia Bentley, the Minnesota Orchestra, the WDR Big Band, the Chicago Brass Quintet, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Bob Lark and his Alumni Big Band, the New Standard Jazz Orchestra, Quince, Chicago Q Ensemble, V3NTO, the Spektral Quartet, the Blueshift Big Band, musicians from the Grant Park Symphony and the Louisiana Philharmonic, and ensembles worldwide.
Working in partnership with Abbott Laboratories and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Clark composed the soundtracks for Intergalactica and Zen Garden, two mixed-reality experiences created to support blood donation across the globe. This collaboration marked the CSO’s first foray into music for video games and interactive media. Additional work with the CSO includes arrangements and original songs for the Once Upon a Symphony, Orchestra Explorers, and CSO for Kids programs.
In recent years, Clark has written comics and graphic novels in a fruitful collaboration with New York Times bestselling author Kyle Higgins. Their Eisner Award–nominated miniseries Deep Cuts has been praised as “an absolute triumph of the medium” (Comic Book Resources), and their work on Radiant Black was nominated for the 2024 Harvey Award for Book of the Year.
His music can be heard on numerous albums, including Sisters in Song (2018), featuring Nicole Cabell, Alyson Cambridge, and the Lake Forest Symphony; Magpie: The Music of Joe Clark (2025) by Entre Amigos; and his recordings as a leader—Lush (2013), The C.O.W.L. Sessions (2014), Arcana: This Sounds Like Us (2018) and Black and Cardinal (2024). Future recording projects include Deep Cuts: The Soundtrack, Joystick Jazz Vol. 6: Final Fantasy VI by the Blueshift Big Band, Ghost Signs and The Chicago Neighborhood Project by the Joe Clark Big Band.
Clark is the recipient of multiple Luminarts Awards, the Kleinman Composition Award, a DownBeat Student Music Award, a Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) IAP Grant, the Claire and Samuel Edes Foundation Prize for Emerging Artists, and the Pathways to Jazz Grant. He was a runner-up for both “Best Music Teacher” and “Best Comic Writer(s)” in the 2024 Chicago Reader Best of Chicago Poll.
Joe Clark has been on the faculty of DePaul University since 2012 and Northwestern University since 2014.