Gerald Clayton Quartet
UW Memorial Union-Play Circle 800 Langdon St., Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Devin DeHaven
Gerald Clayton
Four-time Grammy nominee Gerald Clayton has played with many of this country’s jazz luminaries (including Henry Mancini) and serves as the musical director for the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour. He’s been performing since he was a wee child, including sitting in with his dad, the famous composer/bassist John Clayton.
press release: The Wisconsin Union Theater is pleased to be welcoming the Gerald Clayton Quartet on Saturday, February 25, 2017 at 8 p.m. in the Fredric March Play Circle. Pricing is as follows: UW-Madison students are $10, Union Members and non-UW students are $20, UW Faculty and Staff are $21 and the general public is $24. Tickets can be purchased online, at the Memorial Union box office or by calling 608-265-ARTS.
The tradition of jazz is alive and well within a new generation of musicians with Gerald Clayton as a prime representative. Clayton has been the lead or featured on 19 albums, won second place at the 2006 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Piano Competition and received four Grammy Award nominations. Influenced by his father, jazz bassist and composer John Clayton, Gerald is making a name all his own, performing worldwide with influential jazz musicians including his own family group, the Clayton Brothers.
He got his start at the age of seven with the encouragement of his father, jazz bassist, composer, and bandleader John Clayton. Music was a central part of his life form early on: he studied classical piano with Linda Buck and graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts in 2002 where he received the Presidential Scholar of the Arts Award. After graduation he was selected by the Music for the Youth Foundation as one of only four young musicians to receive a scholarship and perform at Steinway Hall. Later, he went on to receive a Bachelor's degree from the Jazz Studies program at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music.
He was featured in a performance of the Henry Mancini Orchestra and performed and recorded with Diana Krall, Roy Hargrove, Dianne Reeves, Ambrose Akinmusire, Dayna Stephens, Kendrick Scott, John Scofield Ben Williams, Terell Stafford & Dick Oatts, Michael Rodriguez, Terri Lyne Carrington, Avishai Cohen, Peter Bernstein and the Clayton Brothers Quintet.
Clayton’s discography as a leader reflects his evolution as an artist. His debut recording, Two Shade, earned a 2010 GRAMMY nomination for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for his arrangement of Cole Porter’s “All of You.” “Battle Circle,” his composition featured on The Clayton Brothers’ recording The New Song and Dance, received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Composition in 2011. He received 2012 and 2013 GRAMMY nominations for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for Bond: The Paris Sessions and Life Forum, his second and third album releases.
This performance is presented by the Wisconsin Union Directorate’s Performing Arts Committee and supported in part by the Wisconsin Arts Board. Capital City Hues, WSUM 91.7FM and WORT 89.9FM are media sponsors.