Perhaps best remembered as an important soloist in the Count Basie band, trumpeter Buck Clayton was born on November 12, 1911 in Parsons, Kansas. His career would take him to some pretty exotic places and he would be associated with some of the biggest names in jazz.

Although he began piano lessons at the age of six, Clayton did not take up the trumpet until he was in his teens, but by his early 20s he was briefly a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Living in Los Angeles at the time, he led a band called The 14 Men from Harlem. By 1934 Clayton was living in Shanghai and leading a group called The Harlem Gentlemen, but returned to the United States in 1937 to accept an offer to play with Willie Bryant’s organization in New York. However, on his way across the country from California he stopped in Kansas City and was persuaded by Count Basie to stay and play with his band at the Reno Club there. He stayed with Basie for six years and, when the band moved their operations to New York City, Clayton was able to pick up additional work playing with Lester Young and Billie Holiday.

In 1943 Clayton was drafted into the military which ended his time playing with Basie. After his discharge in 1946 he did continue to write arrangements for Basie as well as for Benny Goodman and Harry James. Around that same time he began an association with Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic tours. In the 1950s Buck Clayton began to spend more and more time working in Europe and toured with Mezz Mezzrow’s group. Over the next several years he would tour and record in the UK, in Japan and in Australia.

Buck Clayton underwent lip surgery in 1969 and did not return to playing until three years later. He finally gave up playing altogether in 1979 after participating in a U.S. State Department concert tour of Africa. After his playing days were through, he continued to write and arrange and taught at Hunter College in New York City. Buck Clayton died in his sleep in 1991 at the age of 80.

Here is a link to a television appearance by the Buck Clayton All-Stars that features some of Clayton’s old bandmates from the Basie orchestra:

"OUTER DRIVE"