The Buck Clayton Photo Collection Available Online

In 1995, Buck Clayton's wife, Patricia, gave his collection to Special Collections in the Miller Nichols Library at UMKC. A seminal figure in the evolution of jazz, Buck Clayton (1911-1991) distinguished himself as an arranger, composer, trumpeter and bandleader. The Wilbur “Buck” Clayton collection, which spans his career from 1928-1991, includes photographs, correspondence, contracts, sound, recordings, printed and handwritten manuscripts, band arrangements, lead sheets, awards and assorted ephemera. Sound recordings from the collection are housed in the Marr Sound Archives on the ground floor of the Miller Nichols Library. Now through the cooperation of Special Collections in the Miller Nichols Library at UMKC and the University of Missouri Digital Library in Columbia , MO , over 1,500 photographs from the collection are now available for viewing online. These photos chronicle Clayton's long and illustrious career.

Dapper and strikingly handsome with playful green eyes, trumpeter Buck Clayton first rose to national fame as the lead soloist with the first great Count Basie band that roared out of Kansas City in late fall 1936. Ironically, while Clayton's understated, bell-like sound is associated with the hard swinging Kansas City style, he actually spent little time in Kansas City . By the time he arrived at the famed Reno Club, a small dive on 12 th Street , Clayton had already led a colorful career as a bandleader, ranging from Los Angeles to Shanghai .

Born in Parsons, Kansas Clayton grew up in a musical family. Clayton's father, a minister, taught him the basics of music. Picking up the trumpet as a teenager, Clayton performed with the church band, featuring his mother on organ. He first heard the clarion call of jazz during a stopover by the George E. Lee band in Parsons. After high school, Clayton followed his muse to California , where he began his professional career.

In Los Angeles , Clayton joined Charlie Echols 14-piece band, playing taxi dances and ballrooms. Clayton and other band members soon left Echols to joined forces with Broadway producer Earl Dancer and work in movies. When Dancer, a chronic gambler, disappeared with the payroll, Clayton took over leadership of the group. Just 23 years old, Clayton led his new band to China.

In 1934, the Clayton band opened at the palatial Canidrome Ballroom in Shanghai , China , becoming one of the first bands to play the Orient. Madame Chiang Kai-Shek and other celebrities flocked to the Canidrome nightly to sway to a potent mixture of hot jazz and classical music performed by the band, whose members were decked out in tails. The Clayton band spent the next two years at the Canidrome, with a short jaunt to Japan . A melee with a former Marine that turned the dance floor into a roiling free-for-all cost Clayton the job at the Canidrome. Unable to find steady work in Shanghai, Clayton and what remained of the band returned to the United States.

Ben Webster speaking with Dickie Wells and Buck Clayton.

Back in Los Angeles , Clayton reformed the big band and played several seasons at Sebastian's Cotton Club and Club Araby. In the summer of 1936, Clayton left for New York to join Willie Bryant's band at the original Cotton Club. On his way east, Clayton stopped off in Kansas City and joined the Basie Band at the Reno Club, replacing Lips Page as star soloist. Clayton's solo excellence, arrangements and compositions bolstered the national rise of the Basie band. Clayton remained with the Basie band until he was drafted in 1943.

After his discharge in 1946, Clayton led a small group at Café Society and toured nationally with Jazz at the Philharmonic. During the 1950s, Clayton toured Europe with his own group and freelanced with Joe Bushkin, Jimmy Rushing, Frank Sinatra and a host of other bandleaders. Clayton recorded widely as a sideman and a leader, cutting a series of jam sessions for the Columbia label produced by John Hammond.

Sidelined by lip surgery in 1967, Clayton focused on composing and arranging for other groups. He returned to playing in the early1970s and toured internationally with his own group. When his lip gave out for good in the late 1970s, Clayton returned to directing, composing and arranging, while teaching at Hunter College in New York . In 1987, Clayton formed a big band to perform his compositions. Clayton continued creating and leading his “Swinging Dream Band” until his death in 1991. A few years later Clayton's wife, Patricia, contacted the Miller Nichols Library about providing a home for his collection. Once transferred, the staff in Special Collections organized the Clayton Collection, making it available onsite to patrons.

Special Collections completed digitizing the photos in the Clayton Collection in May, 2003. Adhering to best practice, the photos were scanned in a high resolution format for preservation. These files were then converted to web-accessible images for online viewing. To insure longevity, the digital images are stored on CDs with gold recording surfaces, as well as two sets of computer servers. With the assistance of the University of Missouri Digital Library , which serves up the images to viewers, a photographic portrait of Clayton's life and his long and illustrious career is now accessible to users worldwide, online at www.umkc.edu/lib/spec-col/clayton or http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/ .

--Chuck Haddix