The Clayton Brothers Quintet: Notes For the Love of Music

The art of creating jazz music eludes easy explanation and to understand it one should experience it live and try to engage in a conversation with the creator of the art form. With that in mind, we ventured to Jazz Standard to see the Clayton Brothers. Following their incredible performance, it was a humbling experience to sit down for a sincere and warm conversation with the legendary bassist John Clayton, one of the founders of Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and the Clayton Brothers Quintet. Together with his brother saxophonist Jeff Clayton, John worked with the most legendary artists of all time –  Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Diana Krall.

The Clayton Brothers

Today we get to know them much more closer – along with John’s son Gerald Clayton (piano), Obed Calvaire (drums) and Terell Stafford (trumpet). In this star studded show, they are performed melodic yet dynamic and passionate pieces of their vibrant last project “The Gathering.”

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Terrel Stafford

Meanwhile, surprisingly but so naturally John is announced “The Soul Brothers” –  the last created compilation, just came as a result of what always made the brothers stand behind the music as most precious gift  – dedication and togetherness. So obvious, blood is thicker than water. But what really matters is love and hard work for perfection. Simple. But not at all.

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Jeff Clayton

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Flowers In A Gun: You and your brother worked with really good musicians, one of the best I know – Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald. Can you name a few that deeply impacted your work, that changed the way you feel about music, the way you do music? And how exactly that happened?

John Clayton: MontyAlexander He introduced me to reggae  — and to all kinds of reggae … he taught me how to play calypso, he introduced all kinds of great songs to me, from the islands. So, I learnt a lot from Monty Alexander. Same with Count Basie, I learnt a lot from Count Basie, cannot tell you how much I’ve learnt from Count Basie. it would just take forever… Cause he, It was always  lessons, not only about music but about life. But he would allow me to discover the lessons, he never said “Let me tell you something,” never did that. He was first trying to suggest something. I was writing a lot for the band at one point,  and I mentioned that I’d be honored if I had a chance to write an entire album for the band… And he kinda looked away and he didn’t answer me, you know, and I felt shy and embarased and I’d be like “ Oh, ok…”, and I’d walked away.  And then, years later I listened to some things that he written for the Basie band, some cassette tape or something, and then I learnt the lesson that he knew and he was trying to teach me which was – I wasn’t ready. I thought I was ready, the band was playing a lot of our music, they were enjoying it but I was not at the level to do what I was hoping I could do.

John Clayton

John Clayton

And then other strange things started happening. I’d worked with people that were my students then later on became my teachers. Diana Krall for instance, she came to Los Angelis to study with me and then, many years later I started working with her and recording with her, and so she was giving me opportunities and she was giving me ideas and she was showing me things about her style and about her fantasies. So, that’s kind of an interesting thing happened, it’s not always only that people affect me on the side as my mentors, sometimes it’s a process.

FIG: Is it the way you do it with your son right now? 

JC: Yes, that’s perfect example. Because – yes, he grew up with me and he watched me doing music and everything  but now I am analyzing his music and listening to his records and trying to figure out what he’s doing and trying to write it up. So, I can learn. Because I don’t hear like that, I don’t have that same concept of music that he does. And I wanna learn it.

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FIG: For me, what I’ve heard was so perfect and at the same time you’re a family – how do you manage to keep the family love and respect and all that stuff and doing that professional thing on the stage? 

JC: The music always forces us to focus on music. So we can have disagreements and, you know, need to be away from each other and all that stuff but we know that as soon as we play the music – everyone focus on music. So, that makes it easy. And then, of course, when you’re close to people then there’re things that are happening you’re not consciously aware of. So, when my brother is playing he may hear his notes in the sound; I hear and I think – “Oh, yeah, that’s that song that we used to play with mom.” So, there’s always some little lines that make it little deeper for the family.

FIG: What did you learn from your mom? What’s the secret of being that long on the stage and doing so great, and still having a peace of mind? 

JC: Oh, thanks. Well, she was a piano player for the church choirs in the Baptist church, so when we’re growing up we always heard music in our house — my mom practicing, having practices with other singers from the church. So, we always heard music. And then, you know, I didn’t listen to jazz, I listened to soul music — it was Temptations, The Four Tops, Gladys Nite, Ray Charles, little Stevie Wonder, that’s what I grew up on. On the radio — that’s what I listened to.

FIG: Tell us something about “The Gathering”. What was special about “The Gathering”?

JC: For “The Gathering” we really thought — “Ok, we need to think about sort of a party situation”. When you have a party, it’s your chance to gather together your friends. So, that’s why… we even thought about having more friends. So we settled on Wycliffe Gordon and Stefon Harris and of course our friends in the Clayton Brothers groups. That was really the gathering.

FIG: What about “The Soul Brothers”?

JC: That’s gonna be fun! Again, like I said — we’re trying to think about — yes, we are The Clayton brothers but we’re also — when it comes to music and even more — we’re really soul brothers, our souls are coming together to always embrace the music. So, when you think about that and then you write music with that thought – I think music sounds different.

FIG: How do you manage to have your peace of mind and your own private time to write music, to think  about music? How do you work on your, lets say, next project? 

JC: You find different moments and sometimes you have to write it on the calendar, just like you write your dinner dates. It’s like — ok, time for me and music and you don’t answer the phone, you’re by yourself. Or sometimes it’s on a plane, sometimes it’s in a hotel room, sometimes it’s… it’s everywhere. I took three weeks, went in the woods by myself and just practiced and wrote, and exersized. That helped, that was great.

FIG: With your previous project “Brother to Brother” you joined ArtistShare. How did it work for you?

JC: Wonderfully. Normally people are buying a recording, they buy it and.. it’s Tsvete’s new record and I wanna buy it – I buy it online or I go to the record store or… You don’t even know that I exist. Because maybe you get royalty. ArtistShare makes it personal and it’s not about the recording, it’s about the whole process. So now, if you tell me that you gonna make a record and I wanna be a part of it through ArtistShare or whatever, then I can follow along as you write your songs, as you rehearse your songs, I get to know what you’re thinking about when you’re composing your songs. And that’s so much more personal than just buy a record and – oh, look, I sold five hundred records – I don’t know these people. But now because these people are part of it, I know them because they e-mail, share their thoughts, etc. It’s a much more personal way of connecting with your fan base.

FIG: Can you share something memorable as an experience with a fan or someone that contributed or was part of that process? 

JC: Sure. I mean I can’t tell you how many people say to me – “I love being a part of your project, cause not only do I get CD at the end of the day but it’s so much more fun for me to  know what are you guys thinking about.” People are always saying that to me. So, I think is good.

FIG: I get the feeling that you’ve been trough a lot together and what’s the next big challenge for you? What keeps you going? 

JC: The music keeps us going. We love each other of course, but it’s really the music. The music is the thing we all rally around. And the chance to share the music. I know it sounds simple but it really is, that’s it. Music is the magic.

FIG: You get really emotional when you play. What makes you feel like that? What do you think about when you play?

JC: I’m thinking about the mood of the music, if it’s a happy mood I wanna dig deep and touch the happy place, if it’s a deep sad piece or something – then I wanna go there. And I don’t think about the audience, I just think about my friends and the music. We present the music to the audience, I never play music because I think the audience will like it.

FIG: There are many young jazz musicians on the jazz scene. If you could give one really important advice, what would it be? 

JC: Follow your heart. You could never go wrong if you follow your heart. Not only in music – relationships, everything. Never will you regret following your heart, but you will always regret when you don’t follow your heart. And that, along with some other things like: look in the mirror, admit to yourself: you don’t really know that song, time to learn. You really know that you’re rushing the tempo and you know it; you’re dragging the tempo and you know it. Be honest with yourself and then work on the music and understand: the doors of opportunity are open for you based of the level of your art. It’s not about the networking or who you know, or that sort of thing. That maybe get you the first gig. But if your music is not on the right level, they won’t call you again. So just focus on the music and making it higher level.

FIG: What do you want for yourself aside of the music, what makes you happy? 

JC: What do I want? I want love connections (smiling)

FIG: Love connections?

JC: Love connections. I love playing with my brother, I love him, I love playing with Terrell and all band, and my son, I love them. Those are connections of love for me, they make my soul feel good, I’m in a good mood, I don’t fear challenges, I can deal with them better because I’m not messed up inside, I feel the support from them. So I just want more connections that are deep, maybe love is too… but some deep connections.

FIG: I understand. Thank you.

JC: You’re welcome. My pleasure.

Interview by Tsvete Tyuleva

Photos by Anna Yatskevich @jazzaddikt