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Jay Clayton
Jay Clayton is an internationally acclaimed vocalist, composer, and educator, whose work boldly spans the terrain between jazz and new music. Clayton’s pioneering vocal explorations placed her at the forefront of the free jazz movement and loft scene in the 1970s, where she counted among the first singers to incorporate poetry and electronics into her improvisations. She formed a long-term association with renowned minimalist composer Steve Reich.
With more than 40 recordings to her credit, Clayton has appeared alongside such formidable artists as Muhal Richard Abrams, Kirk Nurock, Stanley Cowell, Lee Konitz, and Fred Hersch, as well as fellow vocalists Jeanne Lee, Norma Winstone, Urszula Dudziak, and Bobby McFerrin. Clayton currently records for Sunnyside and her most recent album, Brooklyn 2000, met with enthusiastic critical praise. Her many accomplishments include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and Chamber Music America (2004). She has worked with thousands of students in the United States and across the globe.
Jay has gained worldwide attention as both performer and teacher. She has appeared at major venues including Lincoln Center, Sweet Basil, Town Hall, the Kennedy Center, Jazz Alley, and the North Sea and Montmartre Festivals. She has taught at Universitat fur Musik in Austria, Bud Shank Jazz Workshop, and at City College and the New School in New York City. She has co-taught with Sheila Jordan at the Vermont Jazz Workshop, Jazz in July in Mass., Banff Center in Canada and was on the jazz faculty of Cornish College of the Arts for 20 years.
Her book, Sing Your Story: a Practical Guide for Learning and Teaching the Art of Jazz Singing, was published by Advance Music in 2001.
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New Releases, Celebrating Jazz Capricorns, Farewell To Jay Clayton & More
by Mary Foster Conklin
This broadcast includes new releases from Vanisha Gould & Chris McCarthy, Kristen Edkins, Peter Erskine plus a preview single from Lisa Markley, with birthday shoutouts to Melba Liston, Pamela Samiha Wise, Margaret Slovak, Ruth Brown, Michelle Walker, Jessica Molaskey, Douyé, Dee Daniels, Lisa Markley, Kris Davis and Ingrid Jensen, among others. At the close of the 2nd hour, an homage to the great Jay Clayton. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by seeing them live and ...
Continue ReadingJay Clayton: Looking Back (Reflections)
by Katchie Cartwright
Born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Jay Clayton (October 28. 1941--December 31, 2023) summoned the courage to move to New York in 1963, finding her way into the free jazz scene at a time when singers (excluding Jeanne Lee and a few outliers) were simply not within the ranks of the jazz avant-garde. Her free jazz work shows a rare combination of audacity and softness. What did she do when she first moved to town? Back home, she had listened ...
Continue ReadingJudy Niemack - Jay Clayton: Voices in Flight
by Katchie Cartwright
While veteran vocal improvisers Judy Niemack and Jay Clayton have known each other since the '70s, Voices in Flight marks their first time together in the studio. They have performed some of the album material in live shows since the early 2000s, including their medley of “Body and Soul" and Idrees Sulieman's gorgeous contrafact of it, “Orange Blossoms" ("With You"). Niemack sings the Sulieman tune, highlighting her craft in writing texts for instrumental jazz tunes that match the melodic inflections ...
Continue ReadingNew Releases, Halloween Jazz Plus A Celebration of Jay Clayton's 80th Birthday
by Mary Foster Conklin
This broadcast celebrates Halloween with new releases from Arnie & Hudge (Arnt Arntzen and Jen Hodge), Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, bassist Dave Young and trombonist Nabou Claerhou with birthday shoutouts to Jay Clayton (80 years young), Amanda Monaco, Julia Lee and more. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by purchasing their music during this time of pandemic so they can continue to distract, comfort and inspire.Playlist Out To Dinner “Rebecca's Dance" from Play ...
Continue ReadingJay Clayton, Jerry Granelli: Alone Together
by Angelo Leonardi
L'età avanzata non aveva spento in Jay Clayton e Jerry Granelli (purtroppo deceduto di recente) la voglia di riprendere la lunga collaborazione in performance liberamente improvvisate. Il sodalizio tra la cantante e il batterista risale alla fine degli anni settanta, quando Collin Walcott suggerì a Granelli d'invitare la Clayton al workshop musicale che tenevano al Naropa Institute, il famoso centro buddhista di Boulder, Colorado. Apparentemente sembrava una collaborazione incompatibile. Il drummer di San Francisco era maturato nel ...
Continue ReadingJay Clayton, Fritz Pauer, Ed Neumeister: 3 for the Road
by Angelo Leonardi
Registrato vent'anni fa, quest'album ricorda il pianista austriaco Fritz Pauer—deceduto nel 2012—in una delle sue rare incisioni da leader/co-leader. All'inizio del nuovo millennio lui e la cantante Jay Clayton insegnavano all'Università di Graz e iniziarono a eseguire delle performance liberamente improvvisate. In uno dei loro concerti invitarono il trombonista Ed Neumeister e la relazione si stabilizzò, trovando un fantasioso equilibrio che ora risalta in questa registrazione. Di Jay Clayton abbiamo avuto modo di considerare il suo recente ...
Continue ReadingJay Clayton’s ScatLab—A Vocal Jazz Workout
by Suzanne Lorge
For the last decade, free-bop vocalist Jay Clayton has been conducting regular “scat labs" out of the Manhattan teaching space that she shares with NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan. In ScatLab, jazz singers of all levels of experience meet up to trade twos and fours, riff on traditional blues heads, and improvise on well-known songbook tunes. The purpose here is to practice spontaneous composition in a safe space, away from the microphone and the audience. So if a singer trips ...
Continue ReadingJazz Vocalist Showcase with Jay Clayton at Crossroads Lounge in Baltimore
Source:
Michael Ricci
This Thursday, Dec. 3, internationally acclaimed vocalist, composer, and educator Jay Clayton will present a jazz vocalist showcase in the Crossroads Lounge at the Radisson Hotel at Cross Keys. The live jazz performances for December include a range of new artists and kick-off with Jay Clayton and four talented and emerging female jazz singers. Jay Clayton is an internationally acclaimed vocalist, composer, and educator, whose work spans the terrain between jazz and new music. She began her career in 1963 ...
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Vocalist Jay Clayton Interviewed at AAJ
Source:
All About Jazz
Jay Clayton's career as a singer defies easy classification. True, she most often sings jazz, but she's also collaborated with two of the most prominent modern composers of art music--Steve Reich and John Cage. Even when it comes to jazz, her palette is nothing if not diverse; she is as comfortable with free improvisation and electronic music as with standards. After performing for more than two decades in New York, Clayton moved to Seattle in 1982 to head up a ...
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Kirk Nurock's "Songs and Sonics" Featuring Jay Clayton & Miles Griffith March 15th at Sweet Rhythm
Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
SWEET RHYTHM Presents A New Series:
KIRK NUROCK's “SONGS and SONICS" featuring JAY CLAYTON and MILES GRIFFITH March 15th, 8:30pm
Thursday, March 15 SWEET RHYTHM 88 7th Avenue South, NYC 8:30-10pm (1 set) Reservations: 212 255 3626 $20 cover
Kirk's new “Crowd Sonics" are compositions for the whole jazz club. First, featured artists will perform selections from the Nurock songbook, including jazz settings of Emily Dickinson. Then, club- ...
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Kirk Nurock's "Songs and Sonics" Featuring Jay Clayton & Miles Griffith March 15th at Sweet Rhythm
Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
SWEET RHYTHM Presents A New Series:
KIRK NUROCK's “SONGS and SONICS" featuring JAY CLAYTON and MILES GRIFFITH" March 15th, 8:30pm
SWEET RHYTHM PRESENTS A DARING NEW SERIES
Thursday, March 15" SWEET RHYTHM" 88 7th Avenue South,NYC" 8:30-10:00 pm" (1 set)Reservations: 212 255 3626" $20 cover
Kirk's new “Crowd Sonics" are compositions for the whole jazz club. First, featured artists will perform selections from the Nurock songbook, ...
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Jay Clayton 65th Birthday Bash at Sweet Rhythm Wed., Oct. 25th
Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25TH At Sweet Rhythm 88 7th Avenue South @ Bleeker New York, NY Reservations Recommended 212-255-3626 http://www.sweetrhythmny.com/ Sets are at 8, 10
Jay Clayton “65th Birthday Bash" featuring Gary Thomas tenor/flute Jane Ira Bloom soprano sax George Cables piano Mike Formanek bass Billy Hart drums
“Clayton is an important singer ...
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Jay Clayton 65th Birthday Bash at Sweet Rhythm Wed., Oct. 25th
Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
September 13, 2006 To: Listings/Critics/Features WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25TH At Sweet Rhythm 88 7th Avenue South @ Bleeker New York, NY Reservations Recommended 212-255-3626 http://www.sweetrhythmny.com/ Sets are at 8, 10
Jay Clayton “65th Birthday Bash" featuring Gary Thomas, tenor/flute Jane Ira Bloom, soprano sax George Cables, piano Mike Formanek, bass Billy Hart, drums
“Clayton is ...
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Jay Clayton/Jane Ira Bloom/Jerry Granelli Bowery Poetry Club Saturday, March 18, 2PM
Source:
All About Jazz
Saturday March 18, 2PM “OUTSKIRTS" Jay Clayton - voice/electronics Jane Ira Bloom - sax/electronics Jerry Granelli - drums/electronics Performing LINES AND SPACES/ A Dream Suite by Jay Clayton created with support from Chamber Music America's New Works :Creation and Presentation Program, funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Bowery Poetry Club 308 Bowery (1st & Bleeker) 212-614-0505 Modern vocalist Jay Clayton, soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and ...
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Cornelia Street Cafe Valentine's Day Special Menu + Jay Clayton, vocals; Jack Wilkins, guitar in the Cabaret Space Tuesday, February 14th
Source:
All About Jazz
CORNELIA STREET CAFE VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL OUR VOLUPTUOUS 5-COURSE VALENTINE'S DINNER $50 (See website for menu) AND IN THE CABARET THE FABULOUS JAY CLAYTON SINGS OF LOVE (Jay Clayton, vocals; Jack Wilkins, guitar) SHOWS: 8:30 & 10 Jay Clayton is an internationally acclaimed vocalist, composer, and educator, whose work boldly spans the terrain between jazz and new music. She has appeared alongside such formidable artists as Muhal Richard Abrams, Julian Priester, George ...
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"Clayton is an important singer…one who proposed dramatic changes in vocal styles and roles... her musicianship is impeccable." --Francis Davis, Downbeat "As far as vocal innovation goes, Jay Clayton is precariously on the cutting edge.” --Fred Bouchard, Jazz Times "More than 20 years after her debut recording All Out, Clayton is still the most adventurous singer in jazz, a specialist in wordless improvisation who’s also expert in distending and finding new meanings in the melodies and lyrics of classic popular songs." --Francis Davis, The Village Voice, July 14, 2004
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