Gerald Clayton

March 2, 2011

The SFJAZZ spring season gets under way this weekend, inaugurating three-plus months of great concerts featuring incredibly gifted artists from jazz and related fields. We’re talking the likes of Marcus Roberts, Irma Thomas, Ellis Marsalis, Buddy Guy, John Scofield, Ravi Shankar, Rickie Lee Jones, Tony Bennett, Roy Hargrove, Cedar Walton.
It follows, then, that the opening weekend should include three remarkable and diverse acts. Friday night brings Hugh Masekela to the Palace of Fine Arts; Saturday, it’s the Kenny Werner Quintet with David Sánchez and Randy Brecker at the Herbst Theatre; and Sunday’s matinee finds the Gerald Clayton Trio at the Legion of Honor.
As regular readers have undoubtedly come to realize, I am a huge fan of pianist Clayton. Part of that is the sheer quality of the man’s music – his “Two-Shade” (2009) wound up on my (and many another jazz writer’s) best-albums list. I appreciate that funding for the project came through fans via the ArtistShare website.
It helps, too, to be a fan of the Clayton jazz family in general, having seen the Clayton-Hamilton group in various configurations over the years. Cementing it for me was the live Clayton trio set I caught at Monterey.
As with the Julian Lage posting from earlier today, Sunday’s set offers Northern California jazz fans the opportunity to pick up on the next step in a bracing young artist’s evolution. And, as with Lage, Clayton comes to the region just before the release of his next album.
Now on the major Decca-Universal imprint, the disc, “Bond: The Paris Sessions,” is due out in May. It features Clayton’s veteran Joe Sanders (bass) and Justin Brown (drums). As the pianist noted to me in a “Two-Shade” interview, the three men go way back.

Question: I interviewed Justin and Joe a few years back while they were at the Brubeck Institute and got to see them play on a couple of occasions. How did the three of you come together and what do you feel they bring to table, particularly when it comes to shaping your compositions?
Clayton: We met in high school. We were all chosen to be a part of the high school Grammy band. Even back then, those guys were monsters. I knew then that we’d definitely be playing together in the future. Our paths continued to cross through college and a few years ago we all moved to New York at the same time.
These guys are not just great players but also close friends, so the chemistry on and off the bandstand is very special. Both Joe and Justin have huge ears from having listened to a plethora of styles. You can throw just about any idea in front of them and they’ll turn it into gold. Often times, I’ll bring in an idea for a tune that may not be finished. We’ll play around with it and, after Joe and Justin put their vibe on it, the tune begins to take shape. So they make my job easy.

Credits

By: Brian McCoy

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