Gerald Clayton at the Village Vanguard

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The Village Vanguard is celebrating its 75^th Anniversary this month, February of 2010, and Lorraine Gordon is still at the helm! This week she brought in a talented, award-winning group of young musicians to perform at the renowned jazz club, the Gerald Clayton Trio. Gerald Clayton (best known for playing with Roy Hargrove) was on piano, Joe Sanders - bass, and Justin Brown was the drummer.

Gerald Clayton’s composition, “No Manual” was the first tune of the set. The pianist would play a riff, and the band picked up on it immediately. Both Sanders and Brown watched Clayton, to make sure they got the right accents. Clayton has a strong left hand, which punctuated his right hand figures. The effect was sophisticated and bluesy, not to mention swinging!

Clayton was very personable, and spoke to the audience in a relaxed manner. He began Dizzy Gillespie’s “Con Alma” with beautiful harmonies on piano, adding some rhythmic variations, with reggae and classical inklings, and even a key change at the end.

On “Two Heads, One Pillow,” drummer Brown put bells on his hi-hat and played snare with his hands. He set up a funky beat, and Clayton and Sanders complemented his rhythms with their own off-beat phrases. The entire band had great use of dynamics, from introspective to extrovert in a matter of moments. Towards the end, Justin took off with a dynamite drum solo.

Gerald showed a maturity way beyond his 25 years on the ballad, “Didn’t You Know I Care?” by Duke Pearson. He played very sensitively on the piano, developing the piece with beautiful melodic lines and bluesy elements.

“A Joy and Sorrow” was composed by bassist Sanders, and he got to shine here. His solo had a great deal of feeling, intensity and inventiveness. The Gerald Clayton trio is aiming for a very high level of jazz. This is a thinking person’s music, and wonderful for those who really like to listen.