::: friends ::: clark gayton

Interview with Clark Gayton
By John Farris

JF: You’re from Seattle.

CG: Seattle, Washington.

JF: And you started playing the trombone–

CG: I started playing the trombone–I tell you, that was about 1977.

JF: And you were–

CG: Shoot, I was about 10 years old.

JF: What were your first experiences with the trombone?

CG: I got the trombone–I had a paper route, and I saved my money all summer because there was this trombone in a pawnshop. It was 70 dollars–it was a King Tempo, and just the way it looked, it was shiny and silver, and I said, that’s it–I’m buying that. It was that simple, man.

JF: And so–

CG: And so I bought it and I took it home, and I knew my mother was gonna be mad with me for spending my money on that, so I took it home and I learned a song real quick, ‘cause I knew that if I didn’t know how to play nothin’ with it it woulda been a waste of money as far as she was concerned, so as soon as she came home, I said well–I bought this trombone, and she said, you don’t even know how to play it, but I had already learned a tune by the time she came home, so she couldn’t say nuthin’ (laughs).

JF: Do you remember what the tune was?

CG: “Yesterday”.

JF: You learned “Yesterday”?

CG: Yeah.

JF: Had there been any musical influences in your family?

CG: Before I got the trombone I’d been a tuba player and a piano player, and I remember as soon as I got the trombone, it was my misfortune to have some of the members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band come by my house, ‘cause my grandmother is from New Orleans, Algiers, to be more specific, and she knew all those players ‘cause her uncle was a professor named Manuel Manetta, and he played all instruments. He played with Kid Ory, Buddy Bolden–he played at Lulu White’s in New Orleans, which was a brothel. He played for Fate Marable on the boats–he played calliope. He was an old man then in New Orleans, and everybody knew him. And so when the Preservation Hall Band come to Seattle Washington, the first place they’d call was Manny Manetta’s niece, you know, which was my grandmother, and she knew how to make gumbo. So the whole Preservation Jazz Hall Band came to my house once because our house was big enough to get everybody in there, and these guys picked on me so bad! They said, you play trombone and tuba? So I had to pull that horn out. We played “Tiger Rug”, “Bill Bailey”, “Saints”; you know, all these tunes, and I was just struggling. I couldn’t really do it. They taught me at that point that you had to have a personality, you couldn’t just play the notes, I could go on. But anyway, those are my influences in music.

JF: What were your own first band experiences?

CG: I played in church brass bands, uh, brass, choirs for masses. And I was playing classical music–Mazorski–

JF: “Pictures”–

CG: “At An Exhibition”, those were some of the first things I was playing–“Little Fugue in G Minor”s by Bach. Now that I think back on it, you know, that’s some crazy stuff. I was in middle school, and then the high school band came to our school, and they was playing Kool and the Gang–”Jungle Boogie”, and there was no place for the tuba up there, so that was why I wanted a trombone. That shit was so cool I said, I wanna get some o’ that! And P Funk Parliament–I heard that. I like classical music, but I like P Funk–them horns. So as soon as I got used to the music, everything hit me in a nice way. Everything I heard, I liked Elton John, David Bowie, The Jackson Five, all that stuff.

JF: So when did you–what made you come to New York?

CG: I was living in Oakland before I got here. I went to school in Boston, and when I graduated I went to Cali because my mother was there–

JF: You went to Berkelee. What years was that?

CG: ‘81-84’. So I went to Oakland and I was just trying to figure out how to make a living ‘cause there weren’t a lot of horns I knew of that were needed out there, so I was just trying to re-evaluate my stuff because everything I knew how to do was kind of obsolete–you know, I was doing Ellington, Basie–that kind of stuff. I was playing that in 1981, you know, my view of what was happening was limited, so I was fortunate at a point to meet a lot of people out there–

JF: Like who?

CG: You know, like a guy named Ed Kelly, a piano player, Donald Baily–a drummer that used to play with Jimmy Smith, Pharaoh Saunders was out there–Eddie Henderson was there, and so I just put my horn out and I started to play in local places because I didn’t know what to do! I didn’t know how to make a living playing music. I was sitting in at a jam session and Pharaoh Saunders walks in. We were playing “Polkadots and Moonbeams”, I’ll never forget that, and I played a duet with Pharaoh and Eddie Henderson showed up. That’s how I met Eddie. Yoshie’s was the name of the place.

JF: Yoshie’s?

CG: Yeah. In Berkeley. And then I started playing at Milestones out there in San Francisco. Sonny Buxton, that was his club. I was in the house band. You know, I just listened to different musicians, Gaylord Birch, Waheem Young, lotta good guys, man–so three years later a friend says, Look, you gotta go to New York, the stuff you wanna do. That ain’t happenin’ anywhere else but New York, you gotta go there because that’s where all the cats are. So he encouraged me to leave.

JF: And what was your experience when you got to New York?

CG: I was just trying to play, man. As soon as I got here I want to the Blue Note and just sat in–you know, a jam session–I went up to Harlem, I went out to Queens–to the Village Door in Queens, went to Carmichaels, I hooked up with Wig Flight–you know, who is a tenor player, and he kind of showed me the ropes about Harlem and Brooklyn–the Valhal, that was one of the first places that I played, over there on Fulton Street in downtown Brooklyn–

F: And so you’ve been working with various big bands–

CG: Yeah,

JF: You’ve been working with the Mingus Big Band?

CG: Yeah the first big band I was working with was Charlie Persip’s big band. I used to write some stuff for him. And them I went out with Lionel Hampton; I was with the Ellington Orchestra, Mercer Ellington conducting, and then I worked with Maria Schnieder, the Vanguard Orchestra–pretty much every big band in NY.

JF: The Basie Band?

CG: Yeah–Frank Foster conducting. That was about 1995.

JF: And how did you come into contact with nublu–and the bands you play with at nublu–what bands do you play with at nublu?

CG: I play with Brazilian Girls, I played with Forro in the Dark, I play with the Love Trio, with Eddie Henderson, we have a band with Aaron and Jesse–the Shitty Shitty Jam Band, Wax Poetic–the nublu Orchestra.

JF: I want to ask you about the nublu Orchestra. So you have a very structural background, you’re used to playing charts, you’re used to improvisation on your own, what is it like to play with an improvisational band where you’re not really in charge, you know, where–I mean, I know you’re always playing in the context of something, I mean even when you’re improvising, but what is it like to play with The nublu Orchestra where it seems you are in charge of even less–

CG: Well see, I played with the David Murray Big Band–

JF: With Butch Morris conducting?

CG: Yeah, so I was familiar with Butch. But also I played with Bob Stewart and Lester Bowie, so I’ve had experience with that vibe for a long time.

JF: That whole post-modern jazz thing.

CG: Yeah, I played with Anthony Braxton too. Like I said, when I got into music, I just got with everything, you know? By the time I got to The nublu Orchestra, a lot of those concepts we had already dealt with, you know what I’m saying? So I was able to check out how he does it, and you know, I totally dig it. You still have a lot of creativity to deal with. He’s creating those shapes, you know, but you are still free to choose the notes. You can choose whatever note, so there’s still lots of room for creativity allowed within the structure. I like that. You have to allow a musician to be creative, and there has to be structure, otherwise it’s anarchy. And I’ve never really been a fan of that. Somebody has to be leading the ship. You have to watch him all the time, and that’s what I like about it. But with any big band situation, you always have to watch the conductor all the time, and that’s what I like about it. You always have to watch the conductor, so that doesn’t really change at all. You always have to keep your eyes on him and allow him, to create something, you are expected to be creative. That’s what I like about playing with him. It’s the same as pretty much everything I’ve ever done.


					Brazilian Girls Butch Norris Chantal Ughi Charles Stella Clark Gayton Dj Hardedge DJ Renochild Eddie Henderson ElodieO Erik Truffaz Jochen Rueckert John Farris Juini Booth Karina Zeviani Kenny Wollesen Malik Burke Marla Turner Martin Ogolter Petar Santiago U-roy	Interview with Clark Gayton By John Farris JF: You’re from Seattle. CG: Seattle, Washington. JF: And you started playing the trombone– CG: I started playing the trombone–I tell you, that was about 1977. JF: And you were– CG: Shoot, I was about 10 years old. JF: What were your first experiences with the trombone? CG: I got the trombone–I had a paper route, and I saved my money all summer because there was this trombone in a pawnshop. It was 70 dollars–it was a King Tempo, and just the way it looked, it was shiny and silver, and I said, that’s it–I’m buying that. It was that simple, man. JF: And so– CG: And so I bought it and I took it home, and I knew my mother was gonna be mad with me for spending my money on that, so I took it home and I learned a song real quick, ‘cause I knew that if I didn’t know how to play nothin’ with it it woulda been a waste of money as far as she was concerned, so as soon as she came home, I said well–I bought this trombone, and she said, you don’t even know how to play it, but I had already learned a tune by the time she came home, so she couldn’t say nuthin’ (laughs). JF: Do you remember what the tune was? CG: “Yesterday”. JF: You learned “Yesterday”? CG: Yeah. JF: Had there been any musical influences in your family? CG: Before I got the trombone I’d been a tuba player and a piano player, and I remember as soon as I got the trombone, it was my misfortune to have some of the members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band come by my house, ‘cause my grandmother is from New Orleans, Algiers, to be more specific, and she knew all those players ‘cause her uncle was a professor named Manuel Manetta, and he played all instruments. He played with Kid Ory, Buddy Bolden–he played at Lulu White’s in New Orleans, which was a brothel. He played for Fate Marable on the boats–he played calliope. He was an old man then in New Orleans, and everybody knew him. And so when the Preservation Hall Band come to Seattle Washington, the first place they’d call was Manny Manetta’s niece, you know, which was my grandmother, and she knew how to make gumbo. So the whole Preservation Jazz Hall Band came to my house once because our house was big enough to get everybody in there, and these guys picked on me so bad! They said, you play trombone and tuba? So I had to pull that horn out. We played “Tiger Rug”, “Bill Bailey”, “Saints”; you know, all these tunes, and I was just struggling. I couldn’t really do it. They taught me at that point that you had to have a personality, you couldn’t just play the notes, I could go on. But anyway, those are my influences in music. JF: What were your own first band experiences? CG: I played in church brass bands, uh, brass, choirs for masses. And I was playing classical music–Mazorski– JF: “Pictures”– CG: “At An Exhibition”, those were some of the first things I was playing–“Little Fugue in G Minor”s by Bach. Now that I think back on it, you know, that’s some crazy stuff. I was in middle school, and then the high school band came to our school, and they was playing Kool and the Gang–”Jungle Boogie”, and there was no place for the tuba up there, so that was why I wanted a trombone. That shit was so cool I said, I wanna get some o’ that! And P Funk Parliament–I heard that. I like classical music, but I like P Funk–them horns. So as soon as I got used to the music, everything hit me in a nice way. Everything I heard, I liked Elton John, David Bowie, The Jackson Five, all that stuff. JF: So when did you–what made you come to New York? CG: I was living in Oakland before I got here. I went to school in Boston, and when I graduated I went to Cali because my mother was there– JF: You went to Berkelee. What years was that? CG: ‘81-84’. So I went to Oakland and I was just trying to figure out how to make a living ‘cause there weren’t a lot of horns I knew of that were needed out there, so I was just trying to re-evaluate my stuff because everything I knew how to do was kind of obsolete–you know, I was doing Ellington, Basie–that kind of stuff. I was playing that in 1981, you know, my view of what was happening was limited, so I was fortunate at a point to meet a lot of people out there– JF: Like who? CG: You know, like a guy named Ed Kelly, a piano player, Donald Baily–a drummer that used to play with Jimmy Smith, Pharaoh Saunders was out there–Eddie Henderson was there, and so I just put my horn out and I started to play in local places because I didn’t know what to do! I didn’t know how to make a living playing music. I was sitting in at a jam session and Pharaoh Saunders walks in. We were playing “Polkadots and Moonbeams”, I’ll never forget that, and I played a duet with Pharaoh and Eddie Henderson showed up. That’s how I met Eddie. Yoshie’s was the name of the place. JF: Yoshie’s? CG: Yeah. In Berkeley. And then I started playing at Milestones out there in San Francisco. Sonny Buxton, that was his club. I was in the house band. You know, I just listened to different musicians, Gaylord Birch, Waheem Young, lotta good guys, man–so three years later a friend says, Look, you gotta go to New York, the stuff you wanna do. That ain’t happenin’ anywhere else but New York, you gotta go there because that’s where all the cats are. So he encouraged me to leave. JF: And what was your experience when you got to New York? CG: I was just trying to play, man. As soon as I got here I want to the Blue Note and just sat in–you know, a jam session–I went up to Harlem, I went out to Queens–to the Village Door in Queens, went to Carmichaels, I hooked up with Wig Flight–you know, who is a tenor player, and he kind of showed me the ropes about Harlem and Brooklyn–the Valhal, that was one of the first places that I played, over there on Fulton Street in downtown Brooklyn– F: And so you’ve been working with various big bands– CG: Yeah, JF: You’ve been working with the Mingus Big Band? CG: Yeah the first big band I was working with was Charlie Persip’s big band. I used to write some stuff for him. And them I went out with Lionel Hampton; I was with the Ellington Orchestra, Mercer Ellington conducting, and then I worked with Maria Schnieder, the Vanguard Orchestra–pretty much every big band in NY. JF: The Basie Band? CG: Yeah–Frank Foster conducting. That was about 1995. JF: And how did you come into contact with nublu–and the bands you play with at nublu–what bands do you play with at nublu? CG: I play with Brazilian Girls, I played with Forro in the Dark, I play with the Love Trio, with Eddie Henderson, we have a band with Aaron and Jesse–the Shitty Shitty Jam Band, Wax Poetic–the nublu Orchestra. JF: I want to ask you about the nublu Orchestra. So you have a very structural background, you’re used to playing charts, you’re used to improvisation on your own, what is it like to play with an improvisational band where you’re not really in charge, you know, where–I mean, I know you’re always playing in the context of something, I mean even when you’re improvising, but what is it like to play with The nublu Orchestra where it seems you are in charge of even less– CG: Well see, I played with the David Murray Big Band– JF: With Butch Morris conducting? CG: Yeah, so I was familiar with Butch. But also I played with Bob Stewart and Lester Bowie, so I’ve had experience with that vibe for a long time. JF: That whole post-modern jazz thing. CG: Yeah, I played with Anthony Braxton too. Like I said, when I got into music, I just got with everything, you know? By the time I got to The nublu Orchestra, a lot of those concepts we had already dealt with, you know what I’m saying? So I was able to check out how he does it, and you know, I totally dig it. You still have a lot of creativity to deal with. He’s creating those shapes, you know, but you are still free to choose the notes. You can choose whatever note, so there’s still lots of room for creativity allowed within the structure. I like that. You have to allow a musician to be creative, and there has to be structure, otherwise it’s anarchy. And I’ve never really been a fan of that. Somebody has to be leading the ship. You have to watch him all the time, and that’s what I like about it. But with any big band situation, you always have to watch the conductor all the time, and that’s what I like about it. You always have to watch the conductor, so that doesn’t really change at all. You always have to keep your eyes on him and allow him, to create something, you are expected to be creative. That’s what I like about playing with him. It’s the same as pretty much everything I’ve ever done.