GRAMMY-nominated pianist and composer Gerald Clayton melds together diverse inspirations to create an interconnected musical narrative that resonates with modern styles as boldly as it evokes classic and timeless sounds. Tributary: a stream that flows into a lake or river, feeding the greater body of water – refreshing it, rejuvenating it. Tributary Tale: a story whose message merges with a greater narrative of scattered origins and open ending. On his new record Tributary Tales, out now on Mot?ma Music, pianist and composer Gerald Clayton traces paths of myriad streams – personal, experiential, intangible – that flow into one another, creating a musical narrative greater than the sum of his individual compositions. “I feel like the various encounters in my life are in their own way tributaries – like every trip is somehow an opportunity to discover a new type of bend in the river,” Clayton says. “The various places, people, foods and cultures I’ve been able to experience in my travels, all the musicians I gathered for this project and all the songs I’ve written – there’s a feeling of connectedness between them, even though they’re all their own separate entities.” To record Tributary Tales, Clayton assembled a group of artists both new and familiar, each of whom brings additional, unique influences and experiences to the music. Saxophonists Logan Richardson, Ben Wendel and Dayna Stephens, bassist Joe Sanders, drummer Justin Brown and percussionists Henry Cole and Gabriel Lugo join guest vocalist Sachal Vasandani and poets Carl Hancock Rux and Aja Monet to bring life to Clayton’s range of alluring compositions.
