Article by Todd Matthews

When the Grammy winning bassist, composer, and arranger John Clayton arrives in the Pacific Northwest later this month, the trip will be a homecoming of sorts. Clayton was hired last year as the artistic director of Centrum's Jazz Port Townsend -- the annual festival to be held July 28-31 on the Olympic Peninsula. It's a festival tradition he knows well. "I first became familiar with the festival in 1985 or 1986," Clayton recalled, during a telephone interview from his home in Los Angeles, California last month. "I was living in Holland and playing in an orchestra at the time. When I moved back to the United States with my family, Bud Shank called me to join him, Ray Brown, and Chico Hamilton. I went up there every year from then on."

When Shank was dismissed last year as the festival's artistic director, Clayton was hired for the job. "I was honored," Clayton added.

Clayton was very aware of the rich tradition of jazz in that part of the Pacific Northwest through Centrum's concerts, residencies, and workshop and at clubs and bars that line Water Street downtown. "I think Port Townsend has a number of people who have settled there who are jazz fanatics," Clayton explained. "They saw to it that they had some jazz in their town, and it has just grown through the years. I didn't want to come in and make major changes, especially since Centrum has such a wonderful history of presenting jazz."

Indeed, expectations were high. Yet based upon this year's lineup, Clayton has created a fine mix of nationally recognized artists (Kurt Elling, Regina Carter, Kenny Barron, Russell Malone, and Benny Green) with regional, homegrown favorites (Dave Peck and Nancy King, among others). It makes sense, considering Clayton has worked as the music director of the Sarasota Jazz Festival, Santa Fe Jazz Party, and the Vail Jazz Workshop.

"I think audiences will be excited about the interesting combination that we were able to put together," Clayton explained. "Regina Carter and Kenny Barron almost never work together. Here, they're pared down to a duo, which is really cool. Kurt Elling, who is one of the top jazz vocalists in the world right now, is going to come up with some really interesting things -- not with his own group, but with the stellar faculty at Centrum."

And the Clayton Brothers Quartet (John on bass; brother Jeff on reeds; Jeff Hamilton on drums; and Bill Cunliffe on piano) will perform July 30 with one modification: Clayton's 21-year-old son, Gerald, will sit in with the group on piano.

"I think it's going to be enough of a change that people will feel something different," said Clayton, who will enter the studio later this year to record with guitarist John Pizzarelli to record a new album. "But there's enough of the familiarity with the way things have been run in the past that will make people feel comfortable."

This article originally appeared in Earshot Jazz