Jay Clayton

Noted jazz musician Jay Clayton will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, at UNC Asheville's Reuter Center. The event, which is part of the Jazz Composers Forum monthly series, is open to the public. Tickets are $20 general admission and $10 for students under age 25 with ID. Tickets may be purchased at the Reuter Center reception desk before the event, or online for $21 at www.jazzcomposersforum.org.

Clayton, who began singing with a jazz group while attending college, was at the forefront of the free jazz movement and loft scene in the 1970s. She was one of the first singers to incorporate poetry and electronics into her improvisations. She and her husband, drummer Frank Clayton, invited artists like Sam Rivers, Cecil McBee, Hal Galper and Bob Moses to play concerts at their home in New York.

Clayton has played with musicians including Kirk Nurock, Stanley Cowell, Lee Konitz, Fred Hersch, Jeanne Lee, Nora Winstone, Urszula Dudziak and Bobby McFerrin. She has toured with Steve Reich for more than 10 years and performed with Muhal Richard Abrams at the Joseph Papp Public Theater.

In addition to music, Clayton finds passion in teaching. She has taught for several semesters at New York's City College, the Universität für Musik in Graz, Austria, the Bud Shank Jazz Workshop and the Veneto Summer Jazz Workshop in Bassano, Italy. She is currently an adjunct at the New School in New York and is on the jazz faculty of Peabody Institute in Baltimore. Her book, "Sing Your Story: A Practical Guide for Learning and Teaching the Art of Jazz Singing," was published in 2001.

For more information, call the N.C. Center for Creative Retirement at 828/251-6140.