Dwayne Clemons CENTER OF GRAVITY: LIVE AT SMALLS

October 25, 2024

DWAYNE CLEMONS

CENTER OF GRAVITY: LIVE AT SMALLS

Cellar Music

Dwane Clemons, trumpet; Amanda Sedgwick, alto saxophone; Aaron Johnson, tenor saxophone; JinJoo Yoo, piano; Paul Gill, bass; Taro Okamoto, drums.

Clemons garners my attention right off the bat, with his dynamic trumpet opening this album with the Barry Harris tune “Burgundy.” JinJoo Yoo takes an extended piano solo on that opening tune of the Dwayne Clemons album, “Center of Gravity: Live at Smalls.” The group slow-swings its way through the arrangement, giving the Clemons’ horn-mates a spotlight to strut their stuff. In a way, this is a coming-home celebration for Clemons, who is now Copenhagen-based. He appears at “Smalls” as part of the “SmallsLIVE Living Masters Series.” This album becomes partly a Life-Time Achievement Award and partly a recording opportunity.

Clemons has a close connection to Smalls-Mezzrow, that dates back three decades. His jazz career was on fire in the 1980s. That’s when he first met Smalls current owner, Spike Willner.

Dwayne Clemons was introduced to music early in his life by his father, Leon Shorty Clemons, who was a prominent musician on the Dallas, Texas jazz scene. However, Dwayne Clemons was born in Los Angeles, California. But he grew up in Dallas. For the first three years of his life, Dwayne would lie in his crib and later, run on baby legs around the house, while his dad practiced the tenor sax. At the time, his father led his own band. Unfortunately, his father passed away in 1966, when Dwayne was only three-years-old.

At age eight, young Clemons picked up a cornet and developed love for the horn. He was put in a beginner’s band when he was ten. At age fourteen, he was hanging around jazz clubs and jazz musicians. He hung around Buster Smith (a mentor to Charlie Parker) and began pursuing jazz music as a lifestyle, even though his mother disapproved. She was afraid her teen would get hung up on drugs.

Musicians like James Clay and David Fathead Newman influenced the young Clemons and his playing style, as did Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Dorham, Fats Navarro, Roy Eldridge, Charles Scott, Walter Williams, Louis Armstrong, and Red Allen. Clemons moved to NYC in 1987. He got to meet and hang out with Barry Harris, Tommy Turrentine, James Zollar, and more. Zollar took him under his wing and passed a lot of trumpet gigs off to him.

The 1990s were rough. Clemons served five years in a Texas State prison for a narcotics conviction. Once released, he continued to pursue music as a livelihood. Smalls became a home base for him.

He met Amanda Sedgewick in 2009. They became a couple and complement each other musically. Amanda is a talented reed master and is featured playing alto saxophone on this album.

This new album pushes Dwayne Clemons to the outer limits of his talents, but never sacrifices that all-important, “Centre of Gravity” he holds so dear. It’s nice to have him back home, in the loving arms of Smalls Club, to share his extraordinary talents with old and new friends, and for the world to enjoy.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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