Gerald Clayton
Jazz pianist Gerald Clayton is an adept improviser and composer with a bent toward post-bop and straight-ahead jazz. In addition to Clayton's own recordings and those with his father, bassist John Clayton, he has helped to shape a number of high-profile jazz projects including albums by Roberta Gambarini, Diana Krall, Roy Hargrove, and Ambrose Akinmusire. His own trio dates, including 2009's Two Shade and 2011's Bond: The Paris Sessions (with bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Justin Brown), established his reputation as both a composer and arranger of great skill. The latter album earned a Grammy nomination, as did 2013's Life Forum, which found him expanding his group with saxophonists Logan Richardson and Dayna Stephens, Akinmusire on trumpet, and vocalists Gretchen Parlato and Sachal Vasandani. A larger group also helmed 2017's charting Tributary Tales, featuring saxophonist Ben Wendel, percussionist Henry Cole, and Carl Hancock Rux joining Vasandani on overtone singing. More Grammy nominations arrived with 2019's Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard. His debut for Blue Note Records, the live album paved the way for his first studio date for the storied label, 2022's Bells on Sand, which featured appearances by his father, John Clayton, saxophonist Charles Lloyd, and others.
The son of bassist/bandleader John Clayton, Gerald was born in the Netherlands but grew up in Los Angeles, California. Interested in music from a young age, he began studying piano at age seven and eventually graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, after which he earned a music degree from the USC Thornton School of Music. In 2006, Clayton took second place in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Piano Competition. Based out of New York City, Clayton has performed with a bevy of name musicians including trumpeter Roy Hargrove and pianist/vocalist Diana Krall, as well as his father's Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and the Clayton Brothers trio. He has received several Grammy nods, including a nomination for Best Instrumental Composition for the song "Battle Circle" on the Clayton Brothers' album New Song and Dance.
Clayton released his debut solo album, Two-Shade, in 2009, which garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for his take on Cole Porter's "All of You." In 2011 he delivered his sophomore album, Bond: The Paris Sessions, which hit number 12 on the traditional jazz chart and picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. That same year, he appeared on trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire's critically lauded sophomore album, When the Heart Emerges Glistening. Akinmusire then returned the favor, appearing on Clayton's third solo album and first for Concord Records, Life Forum. An ambitious all-star recording, the album cracked the Top Ten of the jazz chart and earned Clayton yet another Grammy Award nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album.
In 2017 he made the move to Motéma Music for Tributary Tales, which featured contributions from saxophonists Logan Richardson, Ben Wendel, and Dayna Stephens, as well as vocalist Sachal Vasandani and poets Carl Hancock Rux and Aja Monet. Away from his solo work, the pianist has stayed busy making appearances on albums by Terri Lyne Carrington, Peter Bernstein, Avishai Cohen, and others.
In the spring of 2019, Clayton signed to Blue Note Records and celebrated by playing six nights at the storied Village Vanguard with a quintet that included his longtime collaborators Sanders, Brown, and Richardson, with Walter Smith III on tenor saxophone. Those performances were compiled for Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard. Released during the summer of 2020 it picked up two Grammy nominations, including Best Improvised Jazz Solo for "Celia." The pianist's second Blue Note album and first studio date for the label, Bells on Sand, arrived in April 2022 and featured contributions from his father John Clayton, as well as saxophonist Charles Lloyd, Portuguese vocalist MARO, and drummer Justin Brown.
© Matt Collar /TiVo
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Discography
18 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Short Stories
Vicente Archer, Gerald Clayton, Bill Stewart
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Cellar Live on 9 Jun 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Happening: Live At The Village Vanguard
Jazz - Released by Blue Note Records on 10 Jul 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Bond: The Paris Sessions
Jazz - Released by Universal Music Group International on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Two-Shade
Jazz - Released by Universal Music Group International on 1 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Bye Nashville
Vicente Archer, Gerald Clayton, Bill Stewart
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Cellar Live on 17 Mar 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Life Forum
Jazz - Released by Universal Music Group International on 1 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lift Every Voice and Sing / Theme from MLK/FBI
Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Gerald Clayton
Jazz - Released by Sub Pop Records on 18 Jan 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bells On Sand
Jazz - Released by Blue Note Records on 1 Apr 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mirai
Vicente Archer, Gerald Clayton, Bill Stewart
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Cellar Live on 28 Apr 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Happening: Live At The Village Vanguard
Jazz - Released by Blue Note Records on 10 Jul 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Trumpet Talk
Bobby Rodriguez, Gerald Clayton
Latin America - Released by LatinJazz Productions on 1 May 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Peace Invocation
Jazz - Released by Blue Note Records on 18 Mar 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Paisajes: II. El Lago
Jazz - Released by Blue Note Records on 7 Oct 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo