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All-star jazz collective Out Of/Into features a cadre of Blue Note artists known for their sophisticated, contemporary post-bop, a sound they showcased on 2024's Motion 1.

Formed in 2024, Out Of/Into initially came together to mark the 85th anniversary of Blue Note Records. Featured in the group are pianist and musical director Gerald Clayton, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, drummer Kendrick Scott, and bassist Matt Brewer. They brought all of their collaborative skills to bear that year on their debut album, Motion 1. ~ Matt Collar

Jazz pianist Gerald Clayton is an adept improviser and composer with a bent toward post-bop and straight-ahead jazz. In addition to Clayton's own recordings and those with his father, bassist John Clayton, he has helped to shape a number of high-profile jazz projects including albums by Roberta Gambarini, Diana Krall, Roy Hargrove, and Ambrose Akinmusire. His own trio dates, including 2009's Two Shade and 2011's Bond: The Paris Sessions (with bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Justin Brown), established his reputation as both a composer and arranger of great skill. The latter album earned a Grammy nomination, as did 2013's Life Forum, which found him expanding his group with saxophonists Logan Richardson and Dayna Stephens, Akinmusire on trumpet, and vocalists Gretchen Parlato and Sachal Vasandani. A larger group also helmed 2017's charting Tributary Tales, featuring saxophonist Ben Wendel, percussionist Henry Cole, and Carl Hancock Rux joining Vasandani on overtone singing. More Grammy nominations arrived with 2019's Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard. His debut for Blue Note Records, the live album paved the way for his first studio date for the storied label, 2022's Bells on Sand, which featured appearances by his father, John Clayton, saxophonist Charles Lloyd, and others.

The son of bassist/bandleader John Clayton, Gerald was born in the Netherlands but grew up in Los Angeles, California. Interested in music from a young age, he began studying piano at age seven and eventually graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, after which he earned a music degree from the USC Thornton School of Music. In 2006, Clayton took second place in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Piano Competition. Based out of New York City, Clayton has performed with a bevy of name musicians including trumpeter Roy Hargrove and pianist/vocalist Diana Krall, as well as his father's Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and the Clayton Brothers trio. He has received several Grammy nods, including a nomination for Best Instrumental Composition for the song "Battle Circle" on the Clayton Brothers' album New Song and Dance.

Clayton released his debut solo album, Two-Shade, in 2009, which garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for his take on Cole Porter's "All of You." In 2011 he delivered his sophomore album, Bond: The Paris Sessions, which hit number 12 on the traditional jazz chart and picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. That same year, he appeared on trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire's critically lauded sophomore album, When the Heart Emerges Glistening. Akinmusire then returned the favor, appearing on Clayton's third solo album and first for Concord Records, Life Forum. An ambitious all-star recording, the album cracked the Top Ten of the jazz chart and earned Clayton yet another Grammy Award nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album.

In 2017 he made the move to Motéma Music for Tributary Tales, which featured contributions from saxophonists Logan Richardson, Ben Wendel, and Dayna Stephens, as well as vocalist Sachal Vasandani and poets Carl Hancock Rux and Aja Monet. Away from his solo work, the pianist has stayed busy making appearances on albums by Terri Lyne Carrington, Peter Bernstein, Avishai Cohen, and others.

In the spring of 2019, Clayton signed to Blue Note Records and celebrated by playing six nights at the storied Village Vanguard with a quintet that included his longtime collaborators Sanders, Brown, and Richardson, with Walter Smith III on tenor saxophone. Those performances were compiled for Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard. Released during the summer of 2020 it picked up two Grammy nominations, including Best Improvised Jazz Solo for "Celia." The pianist's second Blue Note album and first studio date for the label, Bells on Sand, arrived in April 2022 and featured contributions from his father John Clayton, as well as saxophonist Charles Lloyd, Portuguese vocalist MARO, and drummer Justin Brown. ~ Matt Collar

Immanuel Wilkins is a jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader from Upper Darby in greater Philadelphia. He is possessed of a round, warm, emotionally powerful tone, informed not only by the jazz tradition but gospel as well. Since his late teens, he has been a first-call touring sideman for a remarkable variety of artists who include Jason Moran, Gretchen Parlato, Solange Knowles, Bob Dylan, and Wynton Marsalis. Though the alto is his primary horn, he is also adept on soprano and tenor. In the studio he's worked as a sideman with bassists Ben Wolfe and Harish Raghavan, and vibraphonist Joel Ross; he also serves as an altoist in Orrin Evans & the Captain Black Big Band. In 2020, Wilkins released the Moran-produced Omega, his leader debut for Blue Note. Two years later he returned with his sophomore outing The 7th Hand, an hour-long suite in seven movements. In October 2024 Wilkins issued Blues Blood, his third outing for Blue Note.

Wilkins was raised in Upper Darby, about a mile outside Philadelphia, by music-loving parents. He began playing violin at age three, switched to piano a couple of years later, and in third grade picked up the saxophone. His rationale for moving over to the horn was that he'd heard you could join band a year early if you had your own instrument (which he told his mother that when asking for a horn). Impressed by his logic as well as his musical appetite and ability, she bought him one. Wilkins honed his skills playing in church and studying in programs dedicated to teaching jazz at the city's storied Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts. At age 12, he was selected to play the "Star Spangled Banner" at a Philadelphia Eagles game. He studied music in high school and at the Kimmel Center, where, in addition to its regular instructors, it played host to top-tier jazz musicians including drummer Mickey Roker, bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, saxophonist Steve Coleman, and Sun Ra Arkestra bandleader Marshall Allen, who offered workshops and classes. Wilkins moved to New York City in 2015 to attend the Juilliard School, where he earned his bachelor's degree. There he studied with Bruce Williams and Joe Temperley. In the city, he met trumpeter and composer Ambrose Akinmusire, who acted as both mentor and facilitator in helping Wilkins navigate the jazz scene. He also met Moran, who admired the young saxophonist's sound and immediately grasped his potential. Moran took the young saxophonist on tour playing his tribute show, "In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall, 1959," a series of live performances honoring the legacy of the great jazz pianist.

Along with his work as a musician, Wilkins is an instructor. He has taught at NYU and the New School, and/or given master classes and clinics at Oberlin, Yale, and the Kimmel Center. He formed his own quartet while attending Juilliard with pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Daryl Johns, and drummer Kweku Sumbry. The group worked in New York, backed singers and other soloists, and performed original material. In 2018, Wilkins began working with vibraphonist Joel Ross and was featured prominently on his Blue Note debut, KingMaker, the following year. In 2019, Wilkins and Ross, along with Thomas and Sumbry, also worked with bassist/arranger Harish Raghavan on his Whirlwind Recordings debut, Calls for Action. Later in the year, Wilkins signed a record deal with Blue Note.

Entering Sear Sound Studio in New York with his quartet and Moran as producer, Wilkins cut Omega, a collection of 11 originals, as his debut leader album. The date's music, as evidenced by the April pre-release single "Warriors," was informed by history, the Civil Rights movement, and the spiritual teachings of the Black church, as well as the continuing struggle for racial justice in America. The latter is directly signified by two tunes on the set: "Ferguson -- An American Tradition" and "Mary Turner -- An American Tradition." Omega was released in August of 2020. Wilkins appeared on two other key dates that year: vibraphonist Joel Ross' sophomore outing, Who Are You? and Orrin Evans & The Captain Black Big Band's The Intangible Between.

In January 2022, Wilkins released The 7th Hand, his second Blue Note offering. An hour-long suite composed in seven movements, it was performed by a quartet with pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Daryl Johns, and drummer Kweku Sumbry, with guest appearances by flutist Elena Pinderhughes and the Farafina Kan Percussion Ensemble.

Following global tours and festival appearances, Wilkins released his third Blue Note offering, Blues Blood in October 2024. Co-produced with Meshell Ndegeocello, he was backerd on the 13-track set by pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Rick Rosato, and drummer Kweku Sumbry, the saxophonists also enlisted singers Cecile McLorin Salvant, Ganavya, June McDoom and Yaw Agyeman, as well as instrumentalists Marvin Sewell on guitar, and Chris Dave on drums.~ Thom Jurek

The Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based vibraphonist Joel Ross is a sophisticated jazz performer with a sound steeped in the post-bop tradition. A protégé of Stefon Harris, Ross initially gained attention as a sideman with Marquis Hill and Makaya McCraven before releasing his 2019 debut Blue Note album, Kingmaker. Along with his work as a member of Walter Smith III and Matthew Stevens' In Common band, he has continued to deliver ever more ambitious albums, including 2020's Who Are You? and 2022's The Parable of the Poet. He also contributed to Meshell Ndegeocello's Grammy-winning The Omnichord Real Book, before delivering his harmonically textural 2024 small-group date, nublues.

Born in 1996, Ross grew up in Chicago's South Side with parents who worked as police officers. A twin, he and his sibling started playing drums at age three, and by elementary school were regularly playing at church, where their father also worked as the choir director. As a teenager, he switched to the vibraphone after joining the All City concert and jazz bands. More opportunities followed including playing with groups at the Jazz Institute of Chicago and eventually enrolling at the Chicago High School for the Arts. Via the school's partnership with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, Ross engaged with a bevy of performers including Herbie Hancock, Gerald Clayton, and Stefon Harris; the latter urged him to audition for his Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet at California's University of the Pacific. Ross won the audition and spent two years working with Harris and developing his skills. The vibraphonist ultimately transferred to the New School, where he formed his own Good Vibes ensemble and finished out his degree. In 2016, he took first place at the BIAMP PDX Jazz Festival "Jazz Forward" Competition.

Based in Brooklyn, Ross has played with such luminaries as Makaya McCraven, Peter Evans, and Marquis Hill. In 2018, he joined Walter Smith III and Matthew Stevens for the album In Common. A year later, he cracked the Top Ten of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart with his debut record as a leader, Kingmaker, on Blue Note. Work followed with Melissa Aldana, Rob Mazurek, Jason Palmer, and others. In 2020, he returned with his sophomore Blue Note album, Who Are You?, which featured contributions by harpist Brandee Younger and saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, among others.

After returning to his work with Smith and Stevens for 2022's In Common III, Ross delivered his own album-length suite, The Parable of the Poet. The following year, he played on Meshell Ndegeocello's album The Omnichord Real Book, which took home the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Jazz Album. Also in 2024, Ross released his fourth album, nublues, which featured contributions by saxophonist Wilkins, along with pianist Jeremy Corren, bassist Kanoa Mendenhall, drummer Jeremy Dutton, and flutist Gabrielle Garo. ~ Matt Collar

Kendrick Scott is a technically proficient and intuitive modern jazz drummer, composer, arranger, and bandleader with a bent toward lyrical, imaginative post-bop. Steeped in the lineage of Roy Haynes, Tony Williams, and Elvin Jones, he leads the Kendrick Scott Oracle and has worked live and in studio with a host of top-shelf jazz stars. Scott's Oracle debuted with 2007's self-released The Source. They cut Conviction for Concord and signed to Blue Note for 2015's Derrick Hodge-produced We Are the Drum. The band's A Wall Becomes a Bridge appeared in 2019. Scott changed his approach on 2023's Corridors, recording in a trio with saxophonist Walter Smith III and bassist Reuben Rogers.

Born in Houston, Texas in 1980, Scott grew up in a musical family who encouraged his interest in drumming from a young age. A member of his church and junior high school music ensembles, Scott eventually attended a performing arts high school and later the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since graduating from Berklee in 2003, he has performed with a variety of name artists including the Jazz Crusaders, guitarist Pat Metheny, saxophonists Joe Lovano and Kenny Garrett, vocalist Dianne Reeves, and trumpeter Terence Blanchard. He released his debut album with his Oracle group on World Culture Music in 2006. In 2007 he performed on Blanchard's landmark score for director Spike Lee's A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina) and continued to work with vocalist Gretchen Parlato. Scott signed to Concord in 2012 and Conviction, his sophomore effort with Oracle, appeared on the label in March of 2013. It was produced by Derrick Hodge of the Robert Glasper Experiment. In 2015, after signing with Blue Note, Kendrick Scott & the Oracle issued We Are the Drum, that included a guest appearance by Grammy-winning vocalist Lizz Wright. Four years and many tours later, the drummer returned with his sophomore Blue Note date, A Wall Becomes a Bridge, a 12-song cycle about personal responsibility and overcoming obstacles. Again produced by Hodge, the set featured turntablist Jahi Sundance as a sixth member of the Oracle and was released in early April of 2019.

Scott, like virtually all musicians, was sidelined during the pandemic. He used the opportunity to compose, shifting his area of concentration from inward statements to thoughts projected outward in shared experiences with everyone else in the world during the COVID pandemic. He returned to recording in 2023 and released Corridors on Blue Note in March. Rather than work with Oracle, the set placed the drummer in a trio setting with saxophonist Walter Smith III and bassist Reuben Rogers The nine-track set included eight originals and a cover of Bobby Hutcherson's "Isn’t This My Sound Around Me?" ~ Matt Collar