Jeff Clayton
Encyclopedia
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
alto saxophonist and flautist.
Clayton studied oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
at California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
and undertook a tour with Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
. Following this he recorded with Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...
, Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
, Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
, Patti Labelle
Patti LaBelle
Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards , better known under the stage name, Patti LaBelle, is a Grammy Award winning American singer, author and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry...
, and Madonna. With his brother John Clayton
John Clayton (bassist)
John Travis Clayton Jr. is an American jazz and classical double bassist.-Music:John Travis Clayton Jr. began seriously undertaking the study of double bass at age 16, studying with bass legend Ray Brown...
he founded The Clayton Brothers in 1977, and later formed the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra
Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra
John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton, and Jeff Clayton brought together a group of Los Angeles-based musicians in 1985 and formed the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra . Reviewers and fans loved the big band, and the orchestra's first recording, Groove Shop , earned a Grammy Award nomination. CD Review named...
with Jeff Hamilton
Jeff Hamilton (drummer)
Jeff Hamilton is an American jazz drummer. He is co-director of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and leader of his own trio.-Career:...
.
He has worked with Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, Woody Herman
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
, Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
, and Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
, and played in the Count Basie Orchestra
Count Basie Orchestra
The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16 to 18 piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie. The band survived the late '40s decline in big band popularity and went on to produce notable collaborations with singers such as Frank Sinatra and Ella...
while under the leadership of Thad Jones
Thad Jones
Thaddeus Joseph Jones was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader.-Biography:Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan to a musical family of ten . Thad Jones was a self taught musician, performing professionally by the age of sixteen...
. From 1989 to 1991 he was a member of the Phillip Morris Superband. He also toured with Gene Harris
Gene Harris
Gene Harris was an American jazz pianist known for his warm sound and blues and gospel infused style that is known as soul jazz....
, Dianne Reeves
Dianne Reeves
Dianne Reeves is an American jazz singer. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado.-Early life:Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan to a very musical family. Her father, who died when she was two years old, was also a singer. Her mother, Vada Swanson, played trumpet. A cousin, George Duke, is a...
, Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
, B.B. King and Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
.
Grammy Nomination
In December 2009 Brother To Brother by The Clayton Brothers received a Grammy nomination in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group category.Discography
- Boogie-Down, Ernestine AndersonErnestine AndersonErnestine Anderson is an American jazz and blues singer. In a career spanning more than five decades, she has recorded over 30 albums. She was nominated four times for a Grammy Award. She has sung at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Monterey Jazz Festival , as well as at jazz festivals all...
and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, 1989 - Groove Shop, Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (George Bohannon, Oscar BrashearOscar BrashearOscar Brashear is an American jazz trumpeter and session musician.After studying at DuSable High School he worked briefly with Woody Herman before going on to join Count Basie '68-9, returning to freelance in Chicago with Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon and James Moody...
, Bobby BryantBobby Bryant (musician)Bobby Bryant was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist.Bryant also played saxophone in his youth. He moved to Chicago in 1952, where he studied at the Cosmopolitan School of Music until 1957. Remaining in the city until 1960, he played with Red Saunders, Billy Williams, and other ensembles...
, Lee Callet, Jeff Clayton, John ClaytonJohn Clayton (bassist)John Travis Clayton Jr. is an American jazz and classical double bassist.-Music:John Travis Clayton Jr. began seriously undertaking the study of double bass at age 16, studying with bass legend Ray Brown...
, Bill GreenBill GreenBill Green or Billy Green may refer to:*Bill Green , American Olympic hammer thrower*Bill Green , American college basketball player...
, Thurman GreenThurman GreenThurman Green was a jazz trombonist who was primarily thought of as bebop-oriented .Born in Texas, he did spend time playing in Los Angeles with swinging big bands but he was also an occasional member of the Horace Tapscott Quintet Thurman Green (August 12, 1940 – June 19, 1997) was a jazz...
, Jeff Hamilton, Bob Hardaway, Clay Jenkins, Michael LangMichael LangMichael Lang is a musical concert promoter, producer and artistic manager who is best known as the co-creator of the Woodstock Music & Art Festival in 1969.-Early life:...
, Doug MacDonaldDoug MacDonaldDouglas Bruce MacDonald is a former professional ice hockey centre.He was drafted in the fourth round, 77th overall, in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres. He played fifteen games in the National Hockey League with the Sabres, scoring one goal.-External links:...
, Herb Mickman, Ira Nepus, Maurice Spears, Rickey Woodard, Snooky YoungSnooky YoungEugene Edward "Snooky" Young was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known for his mastery of the plunger mute, with which he was able to create a wide range of sounds.-Biography:...
), 1989 - Heart and Soul, Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, 1991
- Music, The Clayton Brothers (John Clayton, Jeff Clayton, Bill CunliffeBill CunliffeBill Cunliffe is an American jazz pianist and composer based in Los Angeles He has been described by The New York Times as being in the "modern jazz mainstream" and as an "accomplished pianist and composer." Ernie Rideout of Keyboard Magazine described Cunliffe's playing as "inventive, melodic,...
, Jeff Hamilton), 1991
- Absolutely, Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, 1995
- Expressions, The Clayton Brothers (John Clayton, Jeff Clayton, Bill Cunliffe, Herlin RileyHerlin RileyHerlin Riley is an American Neo-bop jazz drummer. Along with other notable musicians such as Wynton Marsalis and Wessel Anderson, he is a member of the New York jazz group, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra....
), 1997 - Explosive!, Milt JacksonMilt JacksonMilton "Bags" Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms...
and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, 1999 - Siblingity, The Clayton Brothers (John Clayton, Jeff Clayton, Bill Cunliffe, Jeff Hamilton, Terell StaffordTerell StaffordTerell Stafford is a professional jazz trumpet player and current Director of Jazz Studies at Temple University.Terell Stafford born in Miami, Florida and raised in both Chicago, Illinois and Silver Spring, Maryland. He went on to get a degree in music education from University of Maryland in 1988...
), 2000 - Back in the Swing of Things, The Clayton Brothers, 2005
- Christmas Songs, Diana KrallDiana KrallDiana Jean Krall, OC, OBC is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer, known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 6 million albums in the US and over 15 million worldwide; altogether, she has sold more albums than any other female jazz artist during the 1990s and 2000s...
and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, 2005 - Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra: Live at MCG, 2005
- Flirting With Twilight, Kurt EllingKurt EllingKurt Elling is an American jazz vocalist, composer, lyricist and vocalese performer. Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Rockford, Elling first became interested in music through his father, who was Kapellmeister at a Lutheran church...
, 2001
Further reading
- [ The Clayton Brothers] at Allmusic
- Scott YanowScott YanowScott Yanow is an American jazz commentator, known for many contributions to the Allmusic website, for writing ten books on jazz and for reviewing jazz recordings for over 30 years.-Biography:...
, [ Jeff Clayton] at Allmusic