Dwayne Clemons - Live at Smalls (2026) [Hi-Res]

Dwayne Clemons was raised in Dallas,Texas. He started playing trumpet at age 8. It was in Dallas where he started his musical apprenticeship under the the likes of, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Cohn, Red Garland, James Clay, Buster Smith, Marchel Ivery, Claude Johnson, et.al. Upon arriving in New York in 1985, Clemons furthered his apprenticeship and received a lot of encouragement from with, Clarence"C"Sharpe, Jonah Jones, Barry Harris, Tommy Turrentine and many more.

Clemons resides in Denmark but still performs at Smalls Jazz Club, whenever he visits the NYC. The 10th release in the Smalls Living Masters series was recorded in 2023 on one such visit to the U.S. Alongside him were Amanda Sedgwick on alto saxophone, Aaron Johnson on tenor saxophone, JinJoo Yoo on piano, Paul Gill on bass and Taro Okamoto on drums. The Living Master's Series is an honorarium award for jazz artists who are seniors and have been important contributors to the Smalls and Mezzrow communities in their careers. It helps to preserve the work of these important jazz artists.

During the COVID pandemic that shut our clubs from March of 2020 through April of 2021 we relied exclusively on funds raised by our not-for-profit, The SmallsLIVE Foundation. It was nothing short of miraculous, a world-wide support network of jazz fans and musicians came together and kept our clubs alive with donations and support. We raised more than what we needed, and these extra funds became the budget for our “SmallsLIVE Living Masters Series”. This is part life-time achievement award and part recording document. Our idea is to document the work of older artists that have had a lifetime in jazz music and a connection to our clubs. This marks the 10th release in the series. - Spike Wilner