THE CLAYTON BROTHERS

Brother to Brother

(ArtistShare)

On ''Brother to Brother,'' the Clayton Brothers are after some specific genial and rugged pleasures in jazz that come directly from the early 1960s, particularly from the music of Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane. But helping to shine up an old sound, making it distinct, are the band members' individual musical voices, and they're what make this record sing.

The bassist John Clayton and the alto saxophonist Jeff Clayton, based in Los Angeles, have been working together, in a small group or a big band (the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra), for about 30 years, and recently with John's son, the pianist Gerald Clayton, as well. (The other members here are the excellent trumpeter Terrell Stafford and the young drummer Obed Calvaire.) Family bands can have a special consonance and fluency, and this one definitely does. But there's also a loose theme of brotherly teams in jazz that runs through this album's dedications: to Thad, Hank and Elvin Jones, and Nat and Cannonball Adderley, for example. Another defining quality of the record is its sunniness.

This is jazz that does not go toward the darkness. It doesn't displace rhythms, find dissonances or court any sort of obscurity as it uses shuffle beats, Afro-Latin six-eight rhythm and neat funk grooves. It's articulately swung and proud of its clarity. On anything above midtempo, it pushes a little faster than you expect, and it finds its jazz-language virtuosity sometimes in the same places that it's finding a sense of humor. This sensibility is consistent throughout the record, and all three Claytons are in on it.

John Clayton is one of the most technically imposing bassists in jazz, and his big tone and swing are paramount here. Jeff maintains a sweet, preaching delivery; the Adderley influence runs deep in him. But you can also hear Johnny Hodges in the ballad ''Where Is Love.'' And Gerald Clayton fills up the available space, busying himself with prettiness and authority. If you've listened to much hard bop or mainstream jazz of the early '60s, you might find some easygoing clich?in his playing -- or maybe even an awful lot of them -- but they are smoothly rendered. More important, the friendly rhetoric of this music allows them. BEN RATLIFF


PHOTO