Ever since this remarkable jazz pianist’s first promising appearances, the Ruhr Piano Festival has been following his career with great interest. In 2009, when Gerald Clayton was only twenty-five years old, he gave his festival début as an invited guest soloist with the SWR Big Band; back then, he had not yet recorded an album of his own, but was already attracting attention as a sensitive, inventive accompanist on recordings with stars such as Diana Krall and Roy Hargrove. Now, on the occasion of his fourth performance in our JazzLine series, Gerald Clayton can look back on a respectable discography as band leader, as an instrumentalist nominated several times for a Grammy Award, and as a guest on recordings with other artists. Clayton is currently collaborating with big names including Charles Lloyd and Bill Frisell: more as an equal partner than as a sideman. In the recording studio, Clayton tends to favor a great deal of variety in terms of instrumental lineups; live, on the other hand, he overwhelmingly gives priority to the standard trio format of modern jazz: piano, bass, and drums.