Gerald Clayton – Happening: Live At The Village Vanguard (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:15:08 minutes | 1,42 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records
Pianist Gerald Clayton is set to release his Blue Note Records debut Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard out July 10. Recorded at the legendary NYC jazz club with a quintet of longtime collaborators—Logan Richardson on alto saxophone, Walter Smith III on tenor saxophone, Joe Sanders on bass, and Marcus Gilmore on drums—Happening spotlights Clayton’s layered identity as a leader. The quintet co-navigates four of Clayton’s original compositions including “A Light” and “Rejuvenation Agenda,” as well as Duke Ellington’s “Take the Coltrane,” while Clayton pares down to a trio for Bud Powell’s “Celia” and the standard “Body and Soul.”
“I called it Happening to highlight the fact that this music is living, that we have a whole lot of happenings throughout the year, and performances at the Village Vanguard are some of the most special of those happenings. It’s such a special, sacred place for the music. You really can feel the presence of what’s occurred in the room.”
To Clayton, the album’s poised impact has shifted in light of the global pandemic. “The idea of having a recording of a live concert takes on a new meaning now that we’re unable to actually gather anymore” he says. “I would hope that, when we do return to some kind of normalcy, people are more inspired than ever to recognize that this music is happening, that it’s a living art form. We need to actually go to those shows. We need to be in those rooms and be part of that experience. I hope this album can offer people a little bit of an escape from this isolation, that it transports them back to the time when we were all able to congregate and celebrate our shared love.”
Gerald Clayton joins Blue Note Records with a live album recorded in the Mecca of Jazz, the Village Vanguard. Joining the pianist, who since 2017 resides in Los Angeles (where he grew up) after ten years in New York, are his most faithful musicians: Logan Richardson on alto saxophone, Walter Smith III on tenor saxophone, Joe Sanders on bass and Marcus Gilmore on drums. And to accompany these legendary names at Blue Note and the Village Vanguard (“It’s such a special sacred place for music! You really can feel the presence of what’s occurred in the room.”), Clayton adds covers by two equally legendary musicians (Bud Powell with Celia and Duke Ellington with Take the Coltrane) and a gold standard track (a more than eleven minute-long version of Body and Soul on which his delicate, sepia-swing infused playing is one of the great moments on the album). With such great characters and setting, it remains only to listen to the stories this quintet have to tell over one and a quarter hours. While chemistry and interaction between the players is intense, there is a sparkling virtuosity and, in line with Clayton’s philosophy, a sense of sincerity is not lacking: “I think the live setting is the most honest testament to what it is we do all year round. I called it Happening to highlight the fact that the music is living, that we have a whole lot of happenings throughout the year, and performances at the Village Vanguard are some of the most special of those happenings.” Contemporary hard bop, revisited vintage swing and some more deconstructed tracks (A Light), Gerald Clayton has the technical but, most importantly, creative means to venture into all possible territories. This old student of Kenny Barron who grew up alongside Roy Hargrove, Diana Krall and Charles Lloyd impresses from beginning to end on this record. And with his ability to mix traditional and modern styles, he is more than ever one of the most inventive musicians of his generation. – Marc Zisman
Tracklist:
1. Gerald Clayton – Patience Patients (10:59)
2. Gerald Clayton – A Light (09:21)
3. Gerald Clayton – Celia (10:34)
4. Gerald Clayton – Rejuvenation Agenda (07:21)
5. Gerald Clayton – Envisionings (11:03)
6. Gerald Clayton – Body and Soul (11:47)
7. Gerald Clayton – Take the Coltrane (14:00)
