- Buck Clayton
Infobox musical artist
Name = Buck Clayton
Img_capt = Clayton in Shanghai around 1934
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Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
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Born = Birth date|1911|11|12
Died = death date and age|1991|12|8|1911|11|12
Origin =United States
Instrument =Trumpet
Genre = SwingMainstream jazz
Occupation =Trumpeter
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Notable_instruments =Buck Clayton (born Wilbur Dorsey Clayton in
Parsons, Kansas onNovember 12 ,1911 -died inNew York City onDecember 8 ,1991 ) was an Americanjazz trumpet player, fondly remembered for being a leading member of Count Basie’s 'Old Testament' orchestra and leader of mainstream orientated jam session recordings in the 1950s. His principal influence wasLouis Armstrong . The "The Penguin Guide to Jazz " says that he “synthesi [zed] much of the history of jazz trumpet up to his own time, with a bright brassy tone and an apparently limitless facility for melodic improvisation”. Clayton worked closely withLi Jinhui , father ofChinese popular music inShanghai . In the long run, his contribution changed the course of music history inChina ,Hong Kong andTaiwan .Early years
Clayton played piano when he was six years old and switched to trumpet when he was a teenager. After high school, he moved to
Los Angeles . He later formed a band named “14 Gentleman from Harlem” in which he was the leader of the 14 member orchestrasYanow, Scott. [2000] (2000). Swing: Third Ear -- The Essential Listening Companion. Backbeat Books publishing. ISBN 0879306009.] .hanghai career
From there there are multiple sources claiming different ways in which Clayton ended up in Shanghai. Some claimed that Clayton was picked by
Teddy Weatherford for a job at the international settlement areas of the Canidrome in Shanghai. Others claimed he escaped US temporarily to avoidracism Jones. Andrew F. [2001] (2001). Yellow Music - CL: Media Culture and Colonial Modernity in the Chinese Jazz Age. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822326949] .From 1934 or 1935, depending on the sources, he was a leader of the "Harlem Gentlemen" in Shanghai. His experience in the east was unique, since Clayton was discriminated against by fellow American marines who were stationed in Shanghai. On numerous accounts, he was attacked by soldiers including an instance where bricks were thrown at him. On the contrary he was treated like an elite by the Chinese. Some of the bureaucratic social group he was with included
Chiang Kai-shek 's wifeSoong Ching-ling , who were regulars at the canidrome. Clayton would play a number of songs that were composed by Li, while adopting the Chinese music scale into the American scale. Li learned a great deal from the American jazz influence brought on over by Clayton. A 1935 guidebook in Shanghai listed Clayton andTeddy Weatherford as the main jazz attraction to the canidrome. He would eventually leave Shanghai before the 1937Second Sino-Japanese War . Clayton is credited for helping close the gap between traditional Chinese music andshidaiqu /mandopop . Though Li is mostly remembered in China, since he would later die in theCultural Revolution .US career
Later that year he accepted an offer from bandleader
Willie Bryant in New York, but while moving east he stopped off in Kansas City, and was persuaded to stay byCount Basie , whose orchestra had a residency at theReno Club , and took the trumpet chair recently vacated byHot Lips Page . From 1937, the Count Basie orchestra was based in New York, giving Clayton the opportunity to freelance in the recordings studios, and he participated in recordings sessions featuringBillie Holiday and was also present on Commodore (and laterKeynote Records ) sessions withLester Young . Clayton remained with Basie until he was drafted for war service in November 1943. Based atCamp Kilmer near New York, Clayton was able to participate in various all-star sessions, some of which were led bySy Oliver .Post-war
After his honorable discharge in 1946 he prepared arrangements for
Count Basie ,Benny Goodman andHarry James and became a member of Norman Granz’s 'Jazz at the Philharmonic ' package, appearing in April in a concert with Young,Coleman Hawkins andCharlie Parker , and in October participated in JATPs first national tour of the United States. He also recorded at this time for theH.R.S. label. In 1947 he was back in New York, and had a residency at theCafé Society , Downtown, and the following year had a reunion withJimmy Rushing , his fellow Basie alumni, at theSavoy Ballroom . Clayton and Rushing worked together occasionally in to the 1960s.From September 1949 he was in
Europe for nine months, leading his own band inFrance . Clayton recorded intermittently over the next few tears for the French Vogue label, under his own name, that of clarinetistMezz Mezzrow and for one session, with pianistEarl Hines . In 1953, he was again in Europe, touring with Mezzrow; inItaly ; the group was joined (improbably) byFrank Sinatra .Mainstreamer
The English critic
Stanley Dance coined the term "mainstream" in the 1950s to describe the style of those swing era players who fell between the revivalist and modernist camps. Clayton was precisely one of the players to whom this appellation most applied. In December 1953 Clayton embarked on a series of jam session albums for Columbia, which had been the idea of John Hammond, thoughGeorge Avakian was the principal producer. The recording sessions for these albums lasted until 1956. The tracks could last the length of a LP side, and it had been the new format that had given Hammond the idea, but sometimes this led to unfortunate anomalies. The title track the "Jumping at the Woodside " album was compiled from two takes recorded four months apart, each with a completely different rhythm section. His "Jazz Spectacular" album from this series (withKai Winding ,J. J. Johnson and vocals byFrankie Laine ) is loved by jazz and pop fans alike. Clayton also recorded at this time for Vanguard, with Hammond producing, under his own name and on dates led byRuby Braff ,Mel Powell andSir Charles Thompson .In 1955 he appeared in the "
Benny Goodman Story ", also working with Goodman in New York at theWaldorf=Astoria Hotel two years later. In 1958 he was at the World Fair in Brussels for concerts withSidney Bechet , and toured Europe the following year and annually through the 1960s. For the Swingville label (a subsidiary ofPrestige Records ) he co-led two albums with former Basie colleagueBuddy Tate and supportedPee Wee Russell on his own outing for the label.In 1964 he performed in
Japan ,Australia andNew Zealand withEddie Condon , with whom he had already occasionally worked for several years. In the early ‘sixties he guested with the band of Britishtrumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton in public performances and on several record albums. In order to hoodwink the musicians' union in the UK, it was necessary to claim that these albums were recorded in Switzerland.Last years
Shortly after appearing at the
New Orleans Jazz Festival in 1969, Clayton underwent lip surgery, and had to give up playing the trumpet in 1972. He was able to resume playing in 1977 for aState Department sponsored tour ofAfrica , but had to permanently stop playing in 1979, though he still worked as an arranger. He began to teach atHunter College , CUNY from 1975-80 and again in the early ‘eighties..The semi-autobiography, "Buck Clayton’s Jazz World", co-authored by Nancy Miller Elliott, first appeared in 1986. In the same year, his new Big Band debuted at the
Brooklyn Museum in New York, and Clayton toured internationally with it, contributing 100 compositions to the band book.Buck Clayton died quietly in his sleep in 1991.
Personal
Clayton’s father was an amateur musician associated with the families local church, who was responsible for teaching his son how to play the trumpet from the age of six. From the age of seventeen, Clayton learned the trumpet, and was taught by Bob Russell, a member of George E. Lee’s band. In his early twenties he was based in
California , and was briefly a member of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra and worked with other leaders. Clayton was also taught at this time by trumpeterMutt Carey , who later emerged as a prominent west-coast revivalist in the 1940s.References
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