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John Clayton is a natural born multitasker. The multiple roles in which he excels \u2013 composer, arranger, conductor, producer, educator, and extraordinary bassist \u2013 garner him a number of challenging assignments and commissions. With a Grammy on his shelf and eight additional nominations, artists such as Diana Krall, Paul McCartney, Regina Carter, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gladys Knight, Queen Latifah, and Charles Aznavour vie for a spot on his crowded calendar. His many musical pursuits include the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, which he founded along with his brother Jeff in 1986, and the Clayton Brothers quintet, which includes his son Gerald on piano. As a teacher, in addition to presenting individual clinics, workshops, and private students as schedule permits, he directs the educational components associated with the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Centrum Festival, and Vail Jazz Party.<\/p>\n
John\u2019s many career highlights include arranging \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d for Whitney Houston\u2019s performance at the 1990 Super Bowl (the recording went platinum), playing bass on Paul McCartney\u2019s CD \u201cKisses On The Bottom,\u201d arranging and playing bass with Yo-Yo Ma and Friends on \u201cSongs of Joy and Peace,\u201d and arranging playing and conducting the 2009 CD \u201cCharles Aznavour With the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra,\u201d and numerous recordings with Diana Krall, the Clayton Brothers, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz, Orchestra, Milt Jackson, Monty Alexander and many others. He will be honored by the California Jazz Society with the Nica Award at the organization\u2019s annual Give the Band a Hand gala at the L.A. Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on April 2.<\/p>\n
John took time out of his very busy schedule to speak with Overture\u2019s Linda A. Rapka at his home studio in Altadena.<\/p>\n
You are a man of many musical hats, as an accomplished jazz and classical musician as well as performer, composer and arranger. Musically speaking, who do you see yourself as? <\/strong> Judging from the volumes of music behind us, I don\u2019t doubt that one bit.<\/strong> Who has inspired you, and continues to inspire you?<\/strong> What value has the union brought to you as a professional musician? <\/strong> Let\u2019s talk about your current projects. What is keeping you busy lately?<\/strong> OK \u2013 what have you been having fun with lately?<\/strong> Even that\u2019s empowering because it\u2019s touching on a negative but at the same time positive because you\u2019re saying \u201cDon\u2019t give up.\u201d<\/strong> What\u2019s unique about it?<\/strong> I\u2019m amazed you found the time to sit and talk with me. <\/strong> When you saw your son Gerald becoming this budding musician, were you at all scared your presence as a professional musician might pressure him?<\/strong> Let\u2019s talk about your early years, when you first joined the union.<\/strong> Ray Brown was very much a mentor.<\/strong> You did eventually find your way to the studio, working with just about everyone. What is that part like, working with other artists?<\/strong> Getting into that vibe, that groove – what\u2019s that process? How do you get to that place?<\/strong> That\u2019s a good lesson not only in music, but in life. Well, music is life, so\u2026<\/strong> What\u2019s the most important thing you share with your students?<\/strong> There\u2019s the danger of \u201cfalling back\u201d in case of failure becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. <\/strong>
\nIt sounds a little clich\u00e9, but I identify myself as a music guy. There are kinds of music that I\u2019m drawn to more than other kinds, but that range is pretty broad for me.<\/p>\n
\nI never want to feel like I\u2019ve arrived. I never want to feel like OK, this is what I do. Period, the end. These are the styles of music I play or write. No, please. More. I think most artists are like that.<\/p>\n
\nPeople inspire me. People give energy. Whether it\u2019s a musician that\u2019s playing something that really touches me and makes my eyes go wide, or an encounter with somebody on the street that really moves me. Somehow that\u2019s going to affect me, and then it\u2019s going to therefore translate through to my music.<\/p>\n
\nThe union was at the ground level of a lot of negotiating talks when I was doing a lot more studio work. I remember how they fought to go to battle to create better situations, better payment, better conditions for us. When I was younger the Special Payments Fund was brand new. I saw a lot of that going on in the early days. I remember Ray Brown was actually on the Board of Directors when I was a teenager, and he\u2019s the one who really told me what the union could do for me. He said, \u201cLook, if you do a non-union job then the union will never be able to help you. But if you do a union job at least they can go to battle for you if something goes wrong.\u201d I always remembered that.<\/p>\n
\n[Laughs] I don\u2019t want to bore you with the list!<\/p>\n
\nEverything I do I have fun with. I don\u2019t do anything that\u2019s not fun. Period. Life\u2019s too short. A record that we just finished came out with the Clayton Brothers, and I\u2019m really excited about that. We\u2019re a quintet that has my brother Jeff on saxophones and flutes, a great trumpet player who lives in New York named Terell Stafford, a great young drummer named Obed Calvaire, and my son Gerald plays piano. The new album is not only the usual Clayton fun, but also we used it as a vehicle to kind of acknowledge where we are regarding a lot of social struggles that we\u2019re going through right now in this nation. So even though the vibe of the album is basically uplifting, there\u2019s a song on there called \u201cSaturday Night Special.\u201d It\u2019s about a gun that disrupts the peace of a community. I also wrote a song called \u201cUntil We Get it Right,\u201d \u2019cause people are sitting there like, \u201cHow long do we have to keep struggling and fighting, and protesting and working?\u201d Basically, until we get it right.<\/p>\n
\nYes, exactly. That was my whole idea. We didn\u2019t want this to be totally a social\/political statement and have people feel this dour vibe, this dark cloud, \u2019cause that\u2019s not what we\u2019re about. We\u2019re playing music, it\u2019s joy, it\u2019s having fun. But there\u2019s another side to us too that is aware and more serious, so we kind of mix that all together. I\u2019m also writing something for the Metropole Orkest, which is this big orchestra in Holland.<\/p>\n
\nThe orchestra has been around since shortly after World War II ended, and they still have the same instrumentation. It\u2019s basically a big band with a complete string section and harp and percussion, French horn, oboe, flutes\u2026 Vince Mendoza had been the chief conductor of that orchestra for years, and he still spends time there. He asked me to be part of the project, so I wrote something to feature this great singer, C\u00e9cile McLorin Salvant. She was one of the past winners of the Thelonius Monk jazz competition. I\u2019m writing right now for the WDR Big Band, which is the Cologne, Germany big band. It\u2019s a lot going on!<\/p>\n
\nWhen you\u2019re gone I\u2019ll get right back to writing!<\/p>\n
\nThat\u2019s exactly right. We never pushed him, we only encouraged. For instance, I remember having a really negative experience with a professional musician whose music I admire. The experience was so painful to me that I said, I\u2019m not buying any more of his records. I never let Gerald know that experience because if that musician ended up being a really big influence and inspiration to him, I didn\u2019t want to get in the way of it. That\u2019s a small example of supporting, but not pushing.<\/p>\n
\nI got to study with Ray Brown when I was 16 years old. Ray Brown saw that I was hungry and interested and eager, so he helped open some doors for me. He would recommend me for jobs he thought I could do. One of them was for an organization that I don\u2019t think exists anymore called the Musicians Wives of Los Angeles. That was probably my first professional job. It was an afternoon luncheon or something like that. I was playing in a quartet or quintet with people, these older jazz guys. I say older; they were older to me then. Jake Hanna was on drums, Bud Shank was on sax, Herb Ellis was on guitar. There I was, 17-year-old kid, scared, green, and I remember Herb Ellis with his one leg up and guitar on his lap, he\u2019d be playing and every now and then he\u2019d kind of swing around and look at me and smile and nod his head. It was so touching, so necessary for this scared kid. I never forgot that. Soon after I needed to be in the union to do these other things I was doing with Henry Mancini and stuff like that.<\/p>\n
\nHe was the definition of mentor. He was not kind of a mentor, he was the mentor of mentors for me. Again, he saw how hungry I was. He let me follow him around. He became almost more of a father figure for me than my real father, because he connected with me on this level, this music level that even though my parents supported, they really didn\u2019t understand. Ray Brown would look at me and say, \u201cHere\u2019s what you gotta do.\u201d That was one of his often-used phrases before he started talking to me. I remember one time when I was in the studio with him, and was getting star eyes about studio work. Here\u2019s Ray Brown, here\u2019s Quincy Jones, Sweets Edison, there\u2019s Snooky Young, there\u2019s all these jazz greats. I said to him, \u201cWhen I\u2019m done with school, do you think you can help me get into studio work?\u201d And he exploded. He started screaming at me and cursing, \u201cAre you out of your effin\u2019 mind, you don\u2019t even know how to play the effin\u2019 bass, and you wanna play this B.S.? First thing you gotta do is get your ass out there and learn how to play the bass from here to here, from top to bottom, and then get out there and make some music. And if you wanna play this when you\u2019re done, it\u2019ll still be here.\u201d I was so frightened, he\u2019d never talked to me that way. So basically I did what he said. And he was right. Years later I said to him, \u201cDo you remember that time you blew up at me?\u201d He said \u201cOh, do I ever. I was afraid you were gonna get sucked into this studio world and not know how to make any music.\u201d That was a huge lesson for me.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s just an extension of touching the music. It\u2019s an extension of it, but obviously it poses other challenges. Not only do you have to learn how to perform live but the whole recording life and the studio life requires different ways of doing things. If I\u2019m writing or arranging for an artist, then I have to think differently than I would for a live concert if it\u2019s a studio thing. You never know what the song and the vocalist or the instrumentalist is going to require for the project. It may be that you create a sound and a vibe that you can only do in the studio.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s collaborative, but it always starts from within. There\u2019s a mantra that I use: \u201cSo go I, so go they.\u201d However I am, I am going to allow others to be that way as well. If I am in a room with my musician friends and I\u2019m upbeat and happy and ready to go and really into it, then that invites them to be that way as well. Because at our core is a big part of us that\u2019s chameleon-like. We want to empathize, we want to be like others around us. Especially as a bandleader I have to remember this, because a lot of times people look to me to set the tone, and I need to set the right one.<\/p>\n
\n[Laughs] You hit the nail on the head! Most of the stuff that I deal with in my music, I\u2019ve learned from life lessons, and books and talks about life lessons. When I do the workshops and teaching that I do, 75% of what I talk about is that \u2014 more than playing the instrument, more than the other musical things. There\u2019s a lot of negativity out there so I have to help them understand how they need to bring their light to every situation that they deal with.<\/p>\n
\nYou\u2019re going to hear stuff by well-meaning people saying things like, \u201cIt\u2019s really rough out there. There aren\u2019t as many jobs as there used to be for all the people graduating.\u201d It\u2019s creating a fear in younger musicians; a fear-based education. I try to help the young people understand, number one, statistics never apply to art. Never in the history of our music have there been, quote, \u201cenough\u201d jobs for the people that are graduating. Ever. Number two, the doors of opportunity open for you based on the level of your art. It\u2019s not the networking, it\u2019s not trying to have something to fall back on. In our world, too often I might hear about a student who wants to be a Music Ed major because they\u2019re encouraged to have something to fall back on. Basically what they\u2019re saying to me is, \u201cI really want to play, but if I fail, let me mold your children\u2019s minds.\u201d [Laughs] I don\u2019t want you near my kids! The teacher says, \u201cI\u2019ve got to teach, I must teach.\u201d That\u2019s the one I want to teach my kids.<\/p>\n
\nThe thing is that we \u2014 adults, teachers, professional musicians \u2014 too often will look at our trajectory and how we have made it to the point that we are. In everybody\u2019s lives you get to a point where you look back on your life and say, \u201cThings are different now. It\u2019s not like when I was growing up.\u201d But really what\u2019s going on is when we\u2019re younger, we\u2019re learning music, and we\u2019re moving up, and at some point the telephone starts to ring. We start working. Music continues, and at another point the phone doesn\u2019t ring as much anymore. So what do we do? We blame the music business instead of looking at ourselves and saying, \u201cWhat do I need to add to my music to allow me to have doors open for me as well with what\u2019s going on today?\u201d There are not fewer opportunities. There are more opportunities.<\/p>\n