LJF: Gerald Clayton Trio

Six-time GRAMMY-nominated pianist-composer and Blue Note Artist Gerald Clayton searches for honest expression in every note. An alumnus of Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, USC's Thornton School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, Clayton won second place in the Monk Institute of Jazz Piano Competition in 2006, and toured globally for the following decade both as a band leader and as a special guest sideman. In 2016, Duke University commissioned his evening-length composition Piedmont Blues, and in 2019 the Los Angeles County Museum of Art commissioned White Cities: A Musical Tribute to Charles White. In 2020, Clayton scored Sam Pollard's award-winning documentary MLK/FBI. He has also collaborated with Bill Frisell, Roy Hargrove, Dianne Reeves, John Scofield and Charles Lloyd, and currently serves as Director of Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.

Performers: Gerald Clayton (piano), Joe Sanders (bass), Jeff Ballard (drums)