The Clayton Brothers

Founded in Venice, California, brothers John and Jeff Clayton have led their eponymous jazz band for several decades while also working independently as arrangers and accompanists with major artists. They have released several albums over the years and achieved four Grammy Award nominations. Both brothers learned to play as teenagers and after college, they played with Count Basie's big band. They released their debut album, Jeff & John, in 1979, followed by It’s All in the Family in 1981. John Clayton garnered attention in both jazz and classical music and for five years he played bass in the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In the late 1990s he was artistic director of jazz with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and he has composed or arranged for artists such as Milt Jackson, Nancy Wilson, Carmen McRae, Diana Krall and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Jeff Clayton switched from clarinet to saxophone as a young man and played jazz with stars including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Harmon, Lionel Hampton, and Lena Horne. He also worked on recordings with Earth, Wind and Fire, Gladys Knight and Madonna. Because of their individual careers, the brothers didn’t record another album together until 1992’s The Music. Later albums as The Clayton Brothers include Expressions (1997), Back in the Swing of Things (2005), Brother to Brother (2010), and The New Song and Dance (2010). Jeff Clayton died on December 16, 2020 of kidney cancer.

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