Jay Clayton (musician)

Born Judith Colantone in Youngstown, Ohio, she received piano lessons at an early age. She attended Miami University in Ohio, where she studied classical music during the week and performed at jazz clubs as a vocalist during the weekend. She graduated with a degree in Music Education in 1963, then moved to New York City.[1]

Clayton became part of the free jazz and avant-garde jazz crowd, which was unusual for a vocalist. She worked with Muhal Richard Abrams, Gary Bartz, Jane Ira Bloom, George Cables, Steve Lacy, Julian Priester, Perry Robinson, and Mark Whitecage. In her career as an educator, she taught for twenty years at the Cornish College of the Arts. She has also taught at City College of New York, The New School, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, the Bud Shank Jazz Workshop, the Vermont Jazz Workshop, and the Banff Centre in Canada.[1]

• All-Out (Anima, 1981)
• Sound Songs with Jerry Granelli (JMT, 1986)
• String Trio of New York & Jay Clayton (West Wind, 1988)
• As Tears Go By with John Lindberg (ITM, 1988)
• Live at Jazz Alley (ITM, 1991)
• The Jazz Alley Tapes with Don Lanphere (Hep, 1992)
• Tito's Acid Trip with Jim Knapp (ITM, 1992)
• Beautiful Love with Fred Hersch (Sunnyside, 1995)
• Mirror with Claudio Fasoli, Stefano Battaglia (RAM, 1996)
• Circle Dancing (Sunnyside, 1997)
• Brooklyn 2000 (Sunnyside, 2001)
• The Peace of Wild Things (Sunnyside, 2008)
• In and Out of Love (Sunnyside, 2010)
• Harry Who?: A Tribute to Harry Warren (Sunnyside, 2013)
• Unraveling Emily with Kirk Nurock (Sunnyside, 2017)
• “Alone Together” with Jerry Granelli (Jay Clayton, 2020)

• Official site