2010 Grammy nominee for Best Improvised Jazz Solo, Gerald Clayton and his trio, will appear at the Weinberg Center for the Arts on Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Victoria S. Temiz
Manager of Marketing and Development
301-600-2868(Tel)
301-600-2837 (Fax)
For Immediate Release: November 9, 2011
Dynamic, Award-Winning Jazz Pianist
Gerald Clayton and his trio
at the Weinberg Center for the Arts
Thursday, December 1, 2011 – 7:30 p.m.
FREDERICK, MD – 2010 Grammy nominee for Best Improvised Jazz Solo, Gerald Clayton and his trio, will appear at the Weinberg Center for the Arts on Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. Part of the Tivoli Society Discovery Series, tickets are $20 in advance and $25 the day of the show and they are on sale now at the Weinberg Center box office at 301-600-2828 or online at www.weinbergcenter.org.
The Gerald Clayton Trio appears as the result of a grant from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through their American Masterpieces program. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation’s American Masterpieces: Past Midnight Tour highlights some of the leading jazz artists of the current generation. The Foundation will provide fee support for the presentations of clarinetist Anat Cohen, saxophonist David Sánchez, pianist Gerald Clayton, vocalist Gretchen Parlato and saxophonist and composer Ravi Coltrane in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia during the 2011-2012 season. Funding for Past Midnight is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts' Regional Touring Program.
Clayton grew up in a musical family (his father is bassist/composer John Clayton and his uncle saxophonist Jeff Clayton) and was exposed to a variety of musical styles from a very young age. He studied classical piano with Mrs. Linda Buck and jazz piano and composition with Shelly Berg, Kenny Barron and Billy Childs.
Despite his young age, Clayton has already performed extensively with numerous outstanding musicians in a wide variety of venues. Notable engagements include the performance of a composition for piano and orchestra with the Henry Mancini Orchestra at Royce Hall (August 2002) and Disney Hall (May 2006). The piece was composed by his father and commissioned by the Henry Mancini Institute for that purpose. In the spring of 2005, Clayton was asked to join pianists Benny Green, Mulgrew Miller and Kenny Barron for a series of duo concerts in Europe. He also performed with trumpeter Clark Terry in Switzerland later that year. In the summer of 2006, Gerald performed at the Playboy Jazz Festival followed by a week at New York´s Village Vanguard with The Lewis Nash Quintet. Gerald has also toured extensively with trumpeter Roy Hargrove during the summer of 2006.
In 2009, Gerald was nominated for “Best Improvised Jazz Solo”, and most recently was nominated for “Best Instrumental Jazz Composition” at the 2010 Grammy Awards. He stakes his claim in the history and the present of this jazz music with the following words, “Tradition and innovation can peacefully coexist.” His dynamic and award winning sound has been praised by the Jazz Times and Los Angeles Times. The New York Times has saluted his “Oscar Peterson like style” and “huge, authoritative presence”, and he was recently voted first place for “Rising Star – Pianist” in Down Beat Magazine’s 2010 Critics Poll.
As a composer, Clayton’s work has been commissioned by the Jazz Gallery in New York City and performed overseas by the BBC Orchestra. He has been honored with a Level 1 award by the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA), the title “Presidential Scholar in the Arts,” and second place in the Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Piano Competition.
This tour engagement of the Gerald Clayton Trio is funded through the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation’s American Masterpieces program in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring program.
To purchase tickets, call the Weinberg Center for the Arts at 301-600-2828 or visit www.weinbergcenter.org.
About the Weinberg Center: The Weinberg Center for the Arts, a municipal facility of the City of Frederick, is located at 20 West Patrick Street in downtown Frederick, Maryland. The historic theatre opened in 1926 as the Tivoli, and was donated to the City of Frederick in 1978. Today as one of the region’s premier presenting facilities, the 1,100 seat Weinberg Center offers the professional LIVE! Series, including dance, music, theatre, family performances and films, weekday performances for students, and classic movies. Performance space and professional services are available to a variety of community arts groups, civic and business organizations, and other arts promoters. Programming at the Weinberg Center for the Arts is made possible with support from the City of Frederick, The Frederick News-Post, Mount St. Mary’s University Frederick, Maryland Public Television, Maryland State Arts Council, Frederick Arts Council, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Bank of America Foundation, The Plamondon Companies, Flying Dog Brewery and other corporate and individual donors. For more information about upcoming events at the Weinberg Center, please call the Box Office at 301-600-2828 or visit www.weinbergcenter.org.