Gerald Clayton Trio (USA) - Bray Jazz Festival

Event Description

Also Featuring: Michael Buckley’s Ebb & Flow (Ireland)

Gerald Clayton is a six times Grammy Awards nominated pianist, composer and arranger and one of the rising stars of the prestigious Blue Note jazz label.

Indeed his debut Blue Note release, 2020’s ‘Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard’ earned the pianist a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Album of that year.

38 year old Clayton has been a regular fixture in the touring band of legendary saxophonist Charles Lloyd for a decade, and has toured and recorded with such notable jazz stars as Roy Hargrove, Terri Lynne Carrington, Diana Krall and Dianne Reeves.

Upon signing for Blue Note records in 2020, label president Don Was described Clayton as “one of the most accomplished, distinctive and innovative pianists performing today.”

While Down Beat Magazine’s readers named him one of the top up-and coming pianists more than a decade ago – from early on Clayton sought to dodge the pressures to emerge as a prodigy, and instead honed his talents with his own trio – although the spotlight was never far away.

One of the brightest young stars of jazz piano to emerge on the US jazz scene, Clayton was nominated for his first Grammy Award while still in his 20s. He studied music at the prestigious Los Angeles County High School for the Arts,  at The Manhattan School of Music under jazz master Kenny Barron.

“His measured style is marked by complex chordal harmonies and a languid, poetic feeling that often evokes the work of Chick Corea.”

AllMusic

Location of event

Venue Information - The Mermaid Arts Centre

Since their launch in August 2002, Mermaid Arts Centre has made a splash in the artistic and cultural life of County Wicklow. Presenting an ambitious programme of performances including innovative dance, spellbinding theatre, cutting edge music and art-house cinema.