While in New York, John Clayton lost his home of 40 years in California.
To jazz bassist John Clayton, being recognized for his life in music at a ceremony hosted by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 8 represented one of the great honours of his professional life.
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| John Clayton. Photo courtesy The Jazz Bakery |
But in one phone call, he told ABC News, it turned into "a beautiful celebration and an evening of intense grief."
On the biggest night of his professional life, Clayton learned that his home of 40 years had burned down.
Clayton was just an hour away from receiving the 2025 Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award, one of Jazz at Lincoln Center's top honors, when he and his wife got a phone call from their daughter in California telling them that her house had burned down in the wildfires consuming Altadena.
Because they lived four minutes away from their daughter, Clayton said, "We knew we were vulnerable."
However, upon hearing the news, the couple continued on their way to the ceremony where their son, the composer and pianist Gerald Clayton, was set to present the award.
Clayton said decades of training as a musician taught him "how to focus 100% on the situation" and not break.
"Of course, we were devastated by our daughter's loss as we walked to Lincoln Center. But I decided a lot of people are getting together to celebrate this award and offer it to me. It's an honor and I need to embrace that spirit," he said. "So that's what I did."
Amid the spotlight, the applause, the smiles and the accolades directed toward him in the first half of the evening, Clayton told no one what he had just learned. "When it's all over, then you crumble," he told himself.
At intermission, Clayton and his wife walked back to their hotel and phoned a neighbour to ask him to check on their house.
It too, they learned, was gone.
Once again, Clayton returned to Lincoln Center -- this time to perform.
The second half of the evening's festivities featured the artist performing duos with pianist Diana Krall, pianist Kenny Barron and vocalist Tammy McCann.
It was only during a brief soundcheck that Clayton revealed the situation to bassist Christian McBride.
"He grabbed my shoulder and said, 'Bro, you have a bass. Don't worry about that,'" Clayton said. "That was a big moment for me."
Clayton's contributions as an arranger and composer starting when the 72-year-old was a teenager in Venice, California, where he was mentored by jazz luminary Ray Brown.
He went on to become a Grammy-winning bassist and composer who has worked with notables ranging from the Count Basie Orchestra and Nancy Wilson to Queen Latifa and Whitney Houston.
Besides the house, Clayton lost his rehearsal studio and two prized instruments: a bass he purchased when he was just 19, and a second bass that belonged to his mentor, Brown.
Clayton told ABC News that he will continue performing.
In the weeks since his monumental night at Lincoln Center, he began visiting local instrument shops in the Los Angeles area to find a replacement bass for the one he purchased more than 50 years ago.
"I have to search for the one that is closest to my voice, the one I hear in my head," he said.
The couple rented an Airbnb in Santa Monica just last weekend. Clayton said that their online fundraising will help them relocate to a rental home nearby.
Additionally, Clayton and his wife were among those fortunate enough to have home insurance, and they are considering rebuilding -- but that is not certain, Clayton said.
He said that they will likely never return to the site of their former home.
"If someone said you'll never see it again, I'd be okay. Because I realize there's nothing to see," he said. "I don't need to sift through the rubble."
The devastation revealed not just a loss, but something gained. "It strengthened my commitment to do what I do," Clayton said.
"It is absolutely contrary for me to embrace slowing down and retiring," he added. "Now, it's exactly the opposite. It'll be pedal to the metal.”
First published at ABC News America, January 22, 2025
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