Gerald Clayton

Gerald Clayton the son of bassist John Clayton is a talented very young pianist from the US - however born in Utrecht.. coincidence?

I first saw him live last year in the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam playing with the "then" Roy Hargrove Quintet. I saw then, because they were not the musicians who participated in the recording of the albumn.
Whichever the case, they were a great group of musicians.

here is a clip of his solo I took last year.



I have never seen a crowd go wild like that on a piano solo which was not from the main musician of the group(you probably can feel/hear it on this clip) . The crowd just went wild with standing ovations unable to control themselves.
Actually Roy Hargrove gave Gerald Clayton alot of time for his solos in this set...which was a great plus.(the quintet was amazing btw)

The amazing thing is that he is only 23, and already has the energy and talent as a master... atleast well on his path to become one. He has already played sessions for Big names such as Diana Krall and also toured with Roy Hargrove..and have gotten reviews such as below...

"...an Oscar Peterson-like style, highly controlled touch and dynamics and rhapsodic, episodic soloing. (The audience broke into applause during his solo.)"
— Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

I think I am not the only one who believe this kid has talents..(from the comments on the clip on youtube.. :-) )
Watch out for him, he is on his path to become the contemporary jazz greats...(hope things do work out for him)

He doesn't have any albums out yet, but you can hear some of his music streamed on his site...

Gerald Clayton site
Gerald Calyton myspace