These concerts are Gerald Clayton's debut with the North Carolina Symphony.
A six-time Grammy nominee, pianist-composer Gerald Clayton began formal studies at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. He earned a bachelor’s degree in piano performance at USC’s Thornton School of Music under the instruction of Billy Childs, following a year with NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron at the Manhattan School of Music. In 2006, Clayton won second place in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Piano Competition.
Inclusive sensibilities have allowed Clayton to collaborate with such artists including Diana Krall, Roy Hargrove, Dianne Reeves, Terence Blanchard, John Scofield, Terri Lyne Carrington, Peter Bernstein, Ambrose Akinmusire, Gretchen Parlato, Ben Wendel, the Clayton Brothers Quintet and Charles Lloyd. He currently serves as Director of the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra and has served as Musical Director for Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour.
Over the years, Clayton’s playing and original works have received Grammy recognition for Best Improvised Jazz Solo, Best Jazz Instrumental Composition, and Best Jazz Instrumental Album—a nomination he earned most recently for his debut release on Blue Note Records, Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard.
Clayton honors the legacy of his father, bassist-composer John Clayton, and all his musical ancestors through a commitment to exploration and honesty. In 2016, he attempted to render the Piedmont Blues experience and expression in early 20th-century Durham. A Duke University commission, Clayton’s evening-length composition Piedmont Blues features a mixed-media performance. In 2019, he received a commission from Los Angeles County Museum of Art to compose a musical pendant for artist Charles White’s “5 Great American Negroes” mural. Seeking to spotlight race and racial tensions, Clayton titled the project White Cities: A Musical Tribute to Charles White. In 2020, he began work on the score for Sam Pollard’s award-winning documentary MLK/FBI.
