| Gerald Clayton | |
| Birth Date: | 11 May 1984 |
| Birth Place: | Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Origin: | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Occupation: | Musician |
| Instrument: | Piano |
| Label: | Blue Note Concord Verve ArtistShare Motéma |
| Associated Acts: | The Clayton Brothers Charles Lloyd Roy Hargrove Ambrose Akinmusire Dianne Reeves Peter Bernstein |
Gerald William Clayton (born May 11, 1984) is a Dutch-born American jazz pianist, composer and bandleader.
Clayton attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts; USC's Thornton School of Music, where he studied piano with Billy Childs; and the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Kenny Barron.[1]
He has performed and recorded with Roy Hargrove, Diana Krall, Ben Wendel, Dianne Reeves, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ambrose Akinmusire, Dayna Stephens, Kendrick Scott, Ben Williams, Terell Stafford & Dick Oatts, Michael Rodriguez, Avishai Cohen, Sachal Vasandani, Gretchen Parlato, and the Clayton Brothers Quintet. Clayton also has enjoyed an extended association since early 2013, touring and recording with saxophone legend, Charles Lloyd. 2016 marks his second year as Musical Director of the Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour, a project that features his trio with Ravi Coltrane, Nicolas Payton, and Raul Midón.
In 2012 and 2013, Clayton received Grammy nominations for The Paris Sessions (Concord) and Life Forum (Concord). In 2010, he was nominated for Best Instrumental Composition for "Battle Circle", which is featured on the Clayton Brothers album, New Song and Dance. In 2009, he was nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for his solo on Cole Porter's "All of You" from his debut album, Two-Shade. His nomination competed with established jazz musicians Terence Blanchard and Roy Hargrove, with whom Clayton toured for several years.
The Clayton Brothers' Brother to Brother received a nomination in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category. Gerald Clayton plays piano on the album, which holds loosely to a theme of songs that were made famous by Thad, Hank and Elvin Jones. Clayton's piano playing was described by Ben Ratliff of The New York Times as "[filling] up the available space" with Clayton "busying himself with prettiness and authority...If you've listened to much hard bop or mainstream jazz of the early '60s, you might find some easygoing clichés in his playing – or maybe even an awful lot of them – but they are smoothly rendered. More important, the friendly rhetoric of this music allows them."[2]
Clayton is the son of American jazz bassist John Clayton.
| Details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Jazz [3] | US Trad. Jazz [4] | |||
| Two-Shade |
| — | — | |
| Bond: The Paris Sessions | 25 | 12 | ||
| Life Forum | 13 | 9 | ||
| Tributary Tales | ||||
| Bells On Sand | ||||
| Details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Jazz [9] | US Trad. Jazz [10] | |||
| Reverence (Kendrick Scott featuring Walter Smith, Gerald Clayton, Mike Moreno and Derrick Hodge) |
| — | — | |
| While We're Still Young (Patrick Cornelius featuring Gerald Clayton, Jason Palmer, John Ellis, Kendrick Scott, Miles Okazaki, Nick Vayenas and Peter Slavov) |
| — | — | |
| Let Loose (Peter Bernstein featuring Gerald Clayton, Doug Weiss and Bill Stewart) |
| 20 | 10 | |
| Songs and Photographs (Anthony Wilson featuring Gerald Clayton, Jay Bellerose, Joshua Crumbly and Patrick Warren) |
| — | — | |
| Sanctuary (with Matt Slocum and Larry Grenadier) |
| — | — | |
| Details | ||
| Happening: Live at The Village Vanguard |
|---|
| Year | Album | |
|---|---|---|
| "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (with Preservation Hall Jazz Band) | 2021 | Music from the Movie MLK/FBI |
| "Theme from MLK/FBI" (with Preservation Hall Jazz Band) |
| Year | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| "Smooth and You" (Ralph Johnson featuring Gerald Clayton) | 2020 | ||
| "Hourglass Sea" (Sachal Vasandani featuring Gerald Clayton) | 2020 |
| Year | Other artist(s) | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Listen Here" | 2013 | Jackie Ryan | Listen Here |
| Year | Artist | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Charles Lloyd | ||
| 2018 | John Scofield | Combo 66 | |
| 2016 | Peter Bernstein | Let Loose | |
| 2016 | Ben Wendel | What We Bring | |
| 2015 | Matthew Stevens | Woodwork | |
| 2013 | Terri Lyne Carrington | ||
| 2011 | Ambrose Akinmusire | When the Heart Emerges Glistening | |
| 2010 | Dick Oatts & Terell Stafford Quintet | Bridging the Gap | |
| 2009 | Until I Met You | ||
| 2008 | Roy Hargrove | Earfood | |
| 2006 | Diana Krall | From This Moment On | |
| 2006 | Diana Krall | Christmas Songs | |
| 2006 | Roberta Gambarini | Easy to Love | |
| 2005 | Laura Welland | Dissertation on the State of Bliss | |
| 2004 | Complex Simplicity | ||
| 2003 | Bobby Rodriguez | Trumpet Talk |
| Year | Association | Category | Work | Result | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Edison Awards | Best International Jazz Album | Bond: The Paris Sessions | ||
| 2009 | Grammy Awards | Best Improvised Jazz Solo | "All of You" | [12] | |
| 2010 | Best Instrumental Composition | "Battle Circle" | |||
| 2011 | Best Jazz Instrumental Album | Bond: The Paris Sessions | |||
| 2013 | Life Forum | ||||
| 2020 | Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard | ||||
| Best Improvised Jazz Solo | "Celia" |