John Clayton (bassist)
| John Lee Clayton Jr. | |
|---|---|
John in Rotterdam with Trijntje Oosterhuis.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Clayton, Jr. |
| Born |
August 20, 1952 Venice, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, classical music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Double bass |
| Labels |
ArtistShare Verve |
| Associated acts | Diana Krall, Quincy Jones, Jessica Molaskey, John Pizzarelli |
John Lee Clayton Jr. (born August 20, 1952) is an American jazz and classical double bassist.
Clayton began seriously undertaking the study of double bass at age 16, studying with bassist Ray Brown. By age 19, he had become a bassist on Henry Mancini's television series The Mancini Generation and later graduated in 1975 from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music with a degree in bass performance.
He went on to tour with the Monty Alexander Trio and the Count Basie Orchestra before taking the position of principal bass in the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in Amsterdam, Netherlands. However, after five years he returned to the U.S. for a break from the classical genre to work more towards jazz and jazz composition. He soon founded the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra with his saxophonist brother Jeff Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton. He and his brother also founded The Clayton Brothers which has featured instrumentalists such as Bill Cunliffe and Terell Stafford.
From 1999 to 2001 he served as Artistic Director of the Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic program at the Hollywood Bowl and has also conducted the All-Alaska Jazz Band.
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