John Clayton Leads Big-Band Concert September 19

John Clayton will direct an eighteen-piece ensemble featuring soloists Jay Thomas and Bill Ramsay at 7:30 pm on Saturday, September 19, at the Joseph F. Wheeler Theater in Fort Worden State Park. Centrum’s Workshop Band will play the classic jazz tunes of Count Basie and contemporary jazz compositions by John Clayton himself. Ticket Information. Tickets are $10 dollars; youth 18 and under can attend for free with advance registration. Tickets are available online or by calling Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006. Tickets are also available at the box-office door beginning at 7 pm.
"Using the model that has been established by the classic, historic big bands, the Workshop Big Band will be comprised of soloists whose voices are honed to collectively produce a unique sound,” said Clayton. Count Basie and others were all bands comprised of musicians who could improvise. This successful formula will be explored in our show."

In addition to the two soloists, the Workshop Big Band will feature members of Centrum’s big band workshop, brought to a fever pitch by intense playing the weekend of September 17-20. The public performance culminates the jazz workshop. John Clayton is a world-renowned bassist, composer, and educator in both the jazz and classical fields. In addition to his role with Centrum, he is the Artistic Director of the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho and is 2009 artist in residence for the Detroit International Jazz Festival. His the founder of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (with saxophonist brother Jeff and drummer Jeff Hamilton), which features his original compositions and a received a Grammy nomination for their debut recording. In addition to the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra and the Clayton Brother Quarter, John has written and arranged music for Diana Krall, DeeDee Bridgewater, Natalie Cole, George Benson, Regina Cater, John Pizzareli and many others. In 2008, he received his first Grammy Award—after seven nominations—for his arrangement of "I'm Gonna' Live 'til I Die" on Queen Latifah's Verve recording. He is a past president of the International Society of Bassists.

Saxophonist Bill Ramsay is among Seattle’s most sought-after musicians, leading his own bands and recording with groups up and down the West Coast. He spent two years as a member of the Count Basie Orchestra, and is a veteran of many of the nation’s outstanding big bands, including those of Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Grover Mitchell, Cab Calloway, Gene Harris, and Quincy Jones, in addition to performing with the Benny Goodman Octet. He was inducted into the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997.

Jay Thomas is a versatile multi-instrumentalist (trumpet, flugelhorn, alto, tenor, soprano and flutes), who can be heard on over sixty LPs and CDs. Earshot Magazine selected Thomas as Musician of the Year for 1996 and 1998, and he was named a “top ten player” in the “Brass on Fire” search conducted by JAZZIZ. Accidentally Yours, with the Geoffrey Keezer Trio, is his ninth CD as leader. Thomas’s two latest CDs with Becca Duran are: If You Could See Me Now and Song For Rita. Thomas has worked with such artists as Jessica Williams, George Cables, Charles McPherson, Bill Mays, Ralph Penland, Diane Schuur, and Slim Gaillard.
Tickets are $10 dollars; youth 18 and under can attend for free with advance registration. Tickets are available online or by calling Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006. Tickets are also available at the box-office door beginning at 7 pm.
http://www.centrum.org/jazz/2009/09/john-clayton-leads-bigband-concert-september-19.html