About this project

UPDATE:  The Gathering CD is now complete and it is shipping on September 30th.   We would like to thank everyone for their most generous participation in bringing this project to life.   We would especially like to thank:

ArtistShare® Executive Producer Participant:
Howard Stone

ArtistShare® Bronze Participants:
Chie Imaizumi
Dr. Judith Schlesinger
Madeleine Crouch
Shelley & Julian Wiese
Richard Duke
Anthony Jacobine
George C. Wallach
Ira Nepus
David Kingsnorth
Adam Schroeder
Anderson Travis
Roger Frazier
Jonathan Smith
Peggy Duquesnel
Gary Williams
Art Pazornik
Sandra Walker
David Worrell
Craig Carter
Sherry Morrison
Kelly Peterson
Valarie King
Brenda Combs
David Mckinney and
Rosemary Thomas

Welcome to the newest Clayton Brothers’ project: The Gathering!  We are starting from the ground up and developing a new group sound.   We will not only gather new melodies and grooves to absorb, but we will also gather some of our best friends to join in the harvest. We want to add YOU to this gathering and hope you'll be a part of it as it develops.  

This is yet another musical meeting of our immediate Clayton Brothers family: Terell Stafford on trumpet, Gerald Clayton on piano, Obed Calvaire on drums, and ourselves, Jeff and John on saxophone and bass.   The celebration is expanded by including some very special people and personalities.  They are our friends, our musician brothers, and we love playing with them.  A special ensemble timbre will be created when we include trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and vibraphonist Stefon Harris.  We have always been moved by the creations of these two killer musicians.  It was a logical step to make their sound a part of ours.  This time it’s different.  This time we will blend Wycliffe and Stefon’s sound with ours.  We will write songs with their personalities in mind.  In short, we will create a NEW Clayton Brothers sound.

As with our other ArtistShare projects, we invite you to join us as the whole project unfolds.  You will see our entire creative process through audio samples of the music, our written notations and manuscripts, and videos. You can watch the compositions develop, witness rehearsals, discover how we problem solve, be updated as we progress, learn about mixing and mastering, and more.  This time, we’re also adding an exciting new opportunity we haven’t offered before:  two supporters will be able to commission a personalized composition that we will write for and include on this recording.  This is completely new for us.  We’ve dedicated songs to friends and loved ones, but we’ve never discussed with anyone what would influence something we’re writing for our group!  By participating, you can realize different aspects of our creative process, things that make you even more involved in our gathering, including being at the recording session.

We hope you’ll be a part of our Gathering!  We sure want you there.