"At a time when jazz piano prodigies are moving into the spotlight around the world…, Clayton is showing all the signs of becoming one of the most significant young jazz artists to emerge in the Southland in recent years."
– Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times

"And Gerald Clayton from California, also 22 and the son of the bassist John Clayton, came to destroy: his playing had huge, authoritative presence, an Oscar Peterson-like style, highly controlled touch and dynamics and rhapsodic, episodic soloing. (The audience broke into applause during his solo.)"
– Ben Ratliff, The New York Times