The story
John Clayton (born August 20, 1952, Venice, California, USA) is an African-American jazz bassist, arranger, bandleader and educator.
His most influential teacher was Ray Brown, who gave John the opportunities of playing in gigs and shows. John said: "I had to learn all of my major, minor, whole tone and diminished scales, as well as all of my chord types (major triads, minor triads, dominant 7ths, minor 7ths, diminished 7ths and augmented 7ths). He also made me learn as many jazz and standard tunes as I could."
He then became involved with the Monty Alexander Trio for 2 years (1975-77), Count Basie Orchestra for another 2 years (late 1977-79), and Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in Holland for 5 years. Upon returning to Los Angeles, John wanted to try his hand at film scoring but became a studio bassist for 75-piece orchestras that played soundtrack music that was in John's opinion "quite mediocre". He quit that scene.
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