UNCLE JUNE: Drew Gress, Tony Malaby, Mat Maneri, Craig Taborn;
NiMbNl: Ryan Mackstaller, Josh Myers, Todd Neufeld, Jean Carla Rodea;
VIOLET HOUR: J.D. Allen, Andrew Bishop, Chris Lightcap, Jeremy Pelt, Ben Waltzer;
FARMERS BY NATURE: Craig Taborn, William Parker
Influences
Mom & Dad, Jean Carla Rodea, Miles Davis, Tony Williams, Victor Lewis, Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Andrew Hill, John Bonham, Billy Hart, Jack DeJohnette Ringo Starr, Sun Ra and Craig Taborn, to name a few, have all changed my life.
Born May 4, 1963 and raised in Detroit, Gerald is a product of the city’s rich music tradition. Inspired by his father, drummer John Cleaver, he began playing the drums at an early age. He also played violin in elementary school, and trumpet in junior high school and high school. As a teenager he gained invaluable experience playing with Detroit jazz masters Ali Muhammad Jackson, Lamont Hamilton, Earl Van Riper, and Pancho Hagood.
While attending the University of Michigan as a music education major, he was awarded a Jazz Study Grant, from the National Endowment for the Arts, to study with drummer Victor Lewis. He graduated in 1992 and began teaching in Detroit where he worked with Rodney Whitaker, A. Spencer Barefield, Marcus Belgrave, Donald Walden, Wendell Harrison, and with visiting musicians Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, Kenny Burrell, Frank Foster, Cecil Bridgewater, Ray Bryant, Eddie Harris, Dennis Rowland, Howard Johnson, Diana Krall and Don Byron.
In 1995 he accepted an appointment as assistant professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Michigan, and in 1998 also joined the jazz faculty at Michigan State University. He moved to New York in 2002.
He has performed or recorded with Franck Amsallem, Tim Ries, Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, Lotte Anker, Reggie Workman, Marilyn Crispell, Matt Shipp, William Parker, Craig Taborn, Kevin Mahogany, Charles Gayle, Mario Pavone, Ralph Alessi, Jacky Terrasson, Jimmy Scott, Muhal Richard Abrams, Dave Douglas, Tim Berne, Jeremy Pelt, Ellery Eskelin, David Torn and Miroslav Vitous, among others.
His 2001 recording "Adjust" (Fresh Sound New Talent) was nominated in the Best Debut Recording category by the Jazz Journalists Association. "Gerald Cleaver's Detroit" (FSNT), is an homage to his hometown and to the late, great Detroit drummers Roy Brooks, Lawrence Williams, George Goldsmith and Richard "Pistol" Allen. Cleaver leads the bands Violet Hour, NiMbNl, Uncle June and Farmers By Nature.
I really enjoy the sound of your Detroit. This is surely the place to be. 'Was gigin' in the south when your violet band played in Paris...too bad for me, but I had friends in the place...
Hope to have other opportunity to hear LIVE this wonderful music.
dude that aum record is beautiful...also of course you guys sounded amazing at the stone that night, sorry i didn't get to hang w/ you more...i know we'll hang soon somewhere though...
Really into the music, sir! Great stuff. I hope that we can get to finally hang and talk music at some point in the near future... This year is a crazy one for me. I'll be in touch.
Thanks Gerald, I am proud about the contact to such a great and creative Jazz musician! Thanks also for your kind interest of my digital music. I love your fine music much! Respect and all my best to you and your music! from Hamburg Udo
GERALD, Happy New Year, PEACE 2009…Thanks for THE GREAT MUSIC... Congratulations, continuity, and music evolution, keeping it real... No more hunger in Africa and the World… Always moving forwards / At the cross roads, Love your Planet, Best regards... FMC
PAZ 2009 Felicidades, Continuidad, Evolucion musical / No mas hambre en Africa y en el Mundo… Con el tambor en la mano y en la encrucijada, manteniendolo real, Ama a tu planeta, Un saludo, y mis mejores deseos... Francisco Mora Catlett
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