Playing that crazy big band sound

Jennifer K Mahal

John Clayton walked into his first band class in junior high and

saw an instrument that could be fun.

“I said, ‘Wow, could I play that,’” the co-founder of the

Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra remembers. “The band teacher wrote

down my name and wrote down ‘tuba.’”

That would have been that, except that as Clayton walked out of

the room, he saw four “gorgeous” instruments standing on end. He

asked if he could change his choice.

“The band director said ‘Sure,’ and he crossed out ‘tuba’ and

wrote down ‘bass,’” said Clayton, who grew up in Venice Beach. “I’m

one of those believers that you don’t choose the instrument, it

chooses you.”

Clayton will be found playing bass Friday with his orchestra and

guest star Dee Dee Bridgewater at the Orange County Performing Arts

Center.

“It’s going to be wild,” Clayton said. “If you know Dee Dee,

you’ll understand why wild.”

Clayton said Bridegwater, with whom he is good friends, always

claims that he challenges her too much, vocally.

“She tries to give me the impression that I write difficult

arrangements,” said the former artistic director of jazz for the Los

Angeles Philharmonic. “But she owns it after one rehearsal.”

Son of a church choir director, Clayton studied under bassist Ray

Brown at UCLA at age 16.

“Ray stressed the importance of how to play the bass from top to

bottom and everything in between,” he said of studying with the jazz

master.

At 19, Clayton became the bassist for the Henry Mancini TV series

“The Mancini Generation.” He graduated with a bachelor’s in music in

double bass in 1975. His career eventually took him on tour with

Monty Alexander, where he met orchestra co-founder Jeff Hamilton.

Their paths diverged, as Clayton joined the Count Basie Orchestra

and drummer Hamilton joined Woody Herman.

But years later, after Clayton spent time in Amsterdam as

principal bassist with their Philharmonic Orchestra, fate led them

both back to Los Angeles, where with John Clayton’s saxophonist

brother, Jeff, they formed the orchestra.

“My task was to write the music to keep the musicians coming back,

my brother knew which musicians to call and Jeff [Hamilton] took care

of the finances,” John Clayton said. “After the first rehearsal, we

immediately felt we had something.”

Success did not come instantly for the musicians. The 19-member

group’s first performance was in a Hyatt hotel lounge, where the

orchestra’s leaders convinced the manager that a big band would sound

great.

“Needless to say, he was willing to experiment with us, but not

willing to fork over money,” Clayton said of the orchestra’s first

booking. “There were more people on the bandstand than in the

audience.”

But word got around and, after a while, the band packed the place.

“We never took no for an answer,” Clayton said.

The orchestra has since performed its big band sound at the

Hollywood Bowl, working with artists from Diana Krall to John

Pizzarelli, and released several CDs.