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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. For the following decade, he toured globally both as a band leader and special guest sideman to critical and commercial acclaim. 

In 2016, Duke University commissioned Clayton’s evening-length composition Piedmont Blues which featured a mixed media performance of critical acclaim. Clayton received a commission from Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2019 to compose a musical pendant for artist Charles White’s “5 Great American Negroes” mural spotlighting race and racial tensions with the project White Cities: A Musical Tribute to Charles White. In 2020, Clayton scored Sam Pollard’s award-winning documentary film MLK/FBI. 

Throughout his career, Clayton has also collaborated with such distinctive artists as Bill Frisell, Roy Hargrove, Dianne Reeves, John Scofield, and legendary band leader Charles Lloyd among many others. He currently serves as Director of Next Generation Jazz Orchestra and has served as Musical Director for Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour and the more recent Blue Note 85th Anniversary Tour. In April 2025, Blue Note records is set to release “Ones & Twos” Clayton’s highly anticipated album featuring Elena Pinderhughes, Joel Ross, Marquis Hill, Kendrick Scott and Kassa Overall.

Line Up

Gerald Clayton piano 

Joe Sanders bass 

Jeff Ballard drums