{"id":3368,"date":"2012-12-05T05:14:29","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T10:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=3368"},"modified":"2012-12-05T05:14:29","modified_gmt":"2012-12-05T10:14:29","slug":"album-review-clayton-brothers-and-friends-the-gathering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/05\/album-review-clayton-brothers-and-friends-the-gathering\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Clayton Brothers and Friends – The Gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Over the last several years, I’ve been developing a taste for \u2013 and appreciation of \u2013 jazz. Not the smooth \u201cjazz flavours\u201d stuff of 70s\/80s late-night FM radio; my new-found tastes lean more toward hard bop, big band, fusion. My collection \u2013 both on CD and vinyl (the latter remaining my preferred medium) is growing, with titles from Cannonball Adderley<\/strong>, Bill Evans<\/strong>, Duke Ellington<\/strong>, Miles Davis<\/strong>, Ornette Coleman<\/strong>, Thelonious Monk<\/strong>, Sonny Rollins<\/strong> and so on. The heavy hitters, you might say.<\/p>\n

What I haven’t \u2013 for the most part \u2013 developed is much interest in the newer contemporary stuff. I’m fascinated by (and derive much joy from) the modern boogaloo sounds of New Mastersounds<\/strong><\/a> and others of their stripe, but when it comes to contemporary jazz, there hasn’t been much that has caught my attention. Perhaps I’m jus not looking in the right places.<\/p>\n

But occasionally something does break through. And The Gathering<\/em>, a new album credited to Clayton Brothers and Friends<\/strong>, is just such an album. With the exception of a Billie Holiday<\/strong> tune (\u201cDon’t Explain,\u201d) The Gathering<\/em> is comprised of all new music composted by one or more of the band members. Clayton brothers Jeff<\/strong> (alto sax, alto flute) and John<\/strong> (bass) are joined on nearly all tracks by Terell Stafford<\/strong> (trumpet, flugehorn), Gerald Clayton<\/strong> (piano) and drummer Obed Calvaire<\/strong>. Stefon Harris<\/strong> (vibraphone) and\/or Wycliffe Gordon<\/strong> (trombone) guest on a number of tracks.<\/p>\n

This is jazz in its classic sense. Hints of the big band aesthetic, and plenty of swinging, are the order of the day here. No electronics here; throughout The Gathering<\/em> it’s all about the organic approach. Sturdy tunes stand up on their own but allow the space essential for each player to take his turn at blowing. A pleasing balance of solo showcasing and ensemble playing is the hallmark of all the tracks on The Gathering.<\/em> And when the band all come together toward the end of a number \u2013 as they do opener \u201cFriday Struttin’\u201d the excitement factor ups a few notches.<\/p>\n

Harris’ dizzying vibes work on the playfully-titled \u201cStefon Fetchin’ It\u201d channels Milt Jackson<\/strong>‘s MJQ<\/strong> work, and even when the ensemble dials the energy way back \u2013 as they do one the ballad \u201cSouvenir\u201d \u2013 they render the tunes expressively. And when things take a bluesy tuns as they do on \u201cBlues Gathering,\u201d hints of Count Basie<\/strong>‘s approach can be felt.<\/p>\n

Anyone who enjoys the classic sounds of jazz will find plenty to like in this 2012 release from Clayton Brothers and Friends.<\/p>\n

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Over the last several years, I’ve been developing a taste for \u2013 and appreciation of \u2013 jazz. Not the smooth \u201cjazz flavours\u201d stuff of 70s\/80s late-night FM radio; my new-found […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,49,65],"tags":[553],"class_list":["post-3368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-review","tag-clayton-brothers","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}