It’s the 34th annual Copenhagen Jazz Festival. MAGNET’s Mitch Myers translates the action.
Two dreads and a baldhead walk into a bar. Actually, it was the Gerald Clayton Trio, and the bar was the Jazzhouse, where the pianist and his buddies played to an adoring audience for two solid hours. Accompanied by bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Marcus Gilmore, the 28-year-old Clayton played a fairly masterful set of modern jazz. This young bunch is definitely the new breed, and Clayton shows great promise as a bandleader, playing with sharp precision and sparkling dynamics. Clayton comes from a musical family, as his father is bassist John Clayton and his uncle Jeff plays saxophone. Gerald has put in plenty of time with the older guys as a member of the Clayton Brothers Band, but these days he’s totally breaking out on his own, receiving Grammy nominations and a mounting number of ardent admirers.
Drawing material from his two acclaimed solo albums, Two-Shade and Bond: The Paris Sessions, Clayton displayed a smart virtuosity and a savvy rhythmic sense well beyond his years. There’s still something lightweight about Clayton’s playing, as his innate blues influence is buried far underneath the gentle flourishes and skittering rhythms he shares in close dialogue with his bandmates. Of course, this didn’t seem to bother his fans at the Jazzhouse, who were content to marvel at Clayton’s pianistic skills and enjoyed the threesome’s mischievous interplay on the bandstand. Every once in a while Clayton would show a clear sense of musical history, going off on a barrelhouse roll or a bluesy detour only to come quickly back to the very contemporary music at hand.
Bassist Sanders was also a real crowd pleaser at the Jazzhouse, playing and humming during his solo spots with clear confidence and an apt touch. Still, Clayton was the star of the show and never lapsed from his vibrant, ornate style. Verdict: This kid is humble, charming and smart and certainly going places fast. After a decade of playing behind folks like the Clayton Brothers, Diana Krall and Roy Hargrove, I’d expect that Clayton will be blazing his own distinctive trail as a leader from here on in.
