Bond: The Paris Sessions (Universal Music)

Gerald Clayton

Released May 10, 2011

Grammy Nominee for Best Jazz Instrumental Album 2012

Allmusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2011

YouTube: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YoRUAo1X6Zw&list=OLAK5uy_lgE5B0ZFsNw3b-GF36p0jq010TWoiSSaI

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7Gz8HtQfjCxFNNFD67MuI2?si=GyZ3Qy7RTgykB4F2fmUDtg

About:

Like Joshua Redman, Ravi Coltrane, Anthony Wilson and all those Marsalis brothers, Gerald Clayton followed in his father’s footsteps to become an accomplished jazz musician in his own right. The son of bassist John Clayton and nephew of saxophonist Jeff Clayton, Gerald studied classical piano from the age of 6 all through high school before enrolling at jazz studies at the University of Southern California. While there, he’s studied under Billy Childs, Kenny Barron and Shelly Berg. He has gotten to work with Diana Krall, Roy Hargrove, Matt Slocum, Al Foster, Lewis Nash and Clark Terry. He’s also performed duo piano concerts with Benny Green, Barron, Mulgrew Miller, Hank Jones and others. Since around 2008, Clayton has reeled in enough notice to start winning various rising jazz star polls and in ’09 came his first album, Two-Shade, which was fan-financed through ArtistShare. The following year, he played piano on his father/uncle-led Clayton Brothers album New Song And Dance, and earned a Grammy nomination a piece for work done on both albums.

So, it’s clear that Gerald Clayton’s young career is on an upward incline.

Clayton, who turned 27 on Wednesday, continues on that roll with the release the day prior of Bond, The Paris Sessions. Carrying over the trio from Two-Shade (Joe Sanders, bass; Justin Brown, drums), the three worked to build upon that first album instead of going off in a different direction. The wisdom of this strategy pays off in this hefty set of sixteen tracks, combining Gerald Clayton compositions with one a piece from the rhythm section and a few select covers. Recorded in a studio in the French capital, the “bond” in the title points to the coherence among the three. Clayton has in Sanders and Brown his Jorge Rossy and Larry Grenadier (Brad Mehldau Trio), guys who are so in tune with each other throughout some very labyrinthine compositions and arrangements. Indeed, listening the three play together is often the most fun part about this record over just listening to Clayton play.

Beginning a record with an endlessly recycled tune like “If I Were A Bell” usually signals a dearth of ideas right from the get go, but not for Clayton. Without having to contort the familiar harmony, Clayton breathes new life into an old tune by feeding off a funky, fresh and syncopated bass line from Sanders. Clayton, distilling all the wide ranging influences he’s been exposed to, seems to know the right moment to get spunky like Monty Alexander and thoughtful like Barron. On this and other selections throughout the album, he uses the drums and bass as extensions of his own instrument (or is that vice versa?). Betraying maturity well beyond his years, he shows restraint even when the song reaches a crescendo near the end, hitting power chords only at the most effective, precise moments.

 Thus, Clayton can take on the standards. Originals? This still-budding composer won those two Grammy nominations for compositions he wrote. His songwriting approach is very mindful of the generations who came before him, but casts it in an early 21st century mindset. “Tradition and innovation can peacefully coexist,” surmises Clayton, a declaration borne out in his songs. “Bond: The Cast,” is a inscrutable, nocturnal melody that sets along a certain path with little, delightful diversions, a revelation of Clayton’s delicately elaborate touch.

Clayton surprises us with other unexpected small gestures: an organ swell enters the otherwise light-footed “Major Hope” at the precise right time for the peak, then quietly fades out again; “Bond: The Release” unfolds like a classical piece, with a brief burst of lyric-less, male background vocals; twice he ushers in the start of melodic change by hollering out “ha!” on “3d,” a casual release contrasting with the highly composed song structure. Ultimately, though, the success of the album hinges on Clayton’s chops, such as the light-on-his-feet delicate prancing of “Bootleg Bruise” or the deft way he darts around and over the rugged terrain defined by the chart and Brown’s trap kit on “Hope,” or the or the affecting, spare solo piano for tribute to Hank Jones written by father John simply titled, “Hank.” A young pianist with pristine technique, highly advanced compositional skills and obvious leadership abilities, BondThe Paris Sessions justifies all the hype he’s been getting. Released by EmArcy Records, this album should earn Clayton yet more poll wins, such as spots on those year-end “best of” album lists. And maybe a few more Grammy nominations.

Track Listing:

1. If I Were a Bell (Frank Loesser) 7:46

2. Bond: The Cast (Gerald Clayton) 3:45

3. Bootleg Bruise (Gerald Clayton) 5:07

4. Major Hope (Gerald Clayton) 6:14

5. Bond: Fresh Squeeze (Gerald Clayton) 4:02

6. Snake Bite (Justin Brown) 3:51

7. Sun Glimpse (Gerald Clayton) 6:34

8. Which Persons? (Joe Sanders) 1:21

9. 3D (Gerald Clayton) 6:39

10. Nobody Else But Me (Jerome Kern) 4:37

11. All the Things You Are (Jerome Kern) 3:43

12. Bond: The Release (Gerald Clayton) 3:45

13. Shout and Cry (Gerald Clayton) 3:30

14. Round Come Round (Gerald Clayton) 4:51

15. Hank (John Clayton) 5:05

Personnel:

Gérald Clayton: piano

Joe Sanders: bass

Justin Brown: drums

Recorded at Studio de Meudon, Meudon

Producer: Gerald Clayton

Engineer: Joel Moss

Review:

Of the new generation of jazz pianists to arrive after Brad Mehldau, Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer, Gerald Clayton has generated the biggest buzz on the street. Clayton is a less radical player than those predecessors, but his postmodern version of the tradition is highly imaginative and distinctive. He also possesses virtues rare for a musician in his 20s, like taste, balance, elegance and understatement.
Most of the 16 pieces here are Clayton originals. His compositions are like graceful, evocative melodic and harmonic gestures that start in the middle and break off before you expect. In the liner notes, Clayton says he intends the album to act as an “organic storyline,” and there is a flowing sense of connection. But the narrative is episodic and connotative rather than linear. “Bond: Fresh Squeeze” is representative: It starts as a simple figure, repeated insistently through ambivalent variations, then spikes and splashes into complexity. Even Clayton’s intense moments feel meditative. On quieter explorations, like “Sun Glimpse,” the gentleness of his touch is hypnotic. But no Clayton concept stays one-dimensional or ends where it began. His young trio with bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Justin Brown has already been together for several years. It seems wrong to call them “tight” because they’re so fluid, but they are creatively coordinated.
While Clayton the composer is a fresh thinker (and elaborates his own forms in unpredictable ways), he is most interesting as a fearless interpreter of standards. “If I Were a Bell” and two Jerome Kern songs, “All the Things You Are” and “Nobody Else But Me,” retain their identities even as their content is fragmented and totally reconfigured. Clayton fits them organically into the streaming suite of this album.

Thomas Conrad (JazzTimes)