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Drummer
Francis Clay was a linchpin of the postwar Chicago blues and jazz scene, most notably playing with the Muddy Waters Band during its late-'50s heyday. Born November 16, 1923, in Rock Island, MS,
Clay was the product of a musical family -- his father, a waiter, was a gifted multi-instrumentalist, and his uncle played the drums professionally. As a teen
Clay assembled his own homemade kit and taught himself to play, joining a local jazz band at age 15. A series of orchestra stints followed, and in 1941 he founded
Francis Clay & His Syncopated Rhythm, gigging in circuses and on riverboats in support of headliners including burlesque superstar Gypsy Rose Lee. In 1947
Clay settled in Chicago, in quick succession backing
George "Harmonica" Smith, trumpeter King Kolax, and saxophonist
Gene Ammons -- for a time, he also operated his own booking agency. He joined
Waters in 1957: when the blues legend found himself in sudden need of a drummer hours prior to a Cleveland date, saxophonist
Marcus Johnson recommended his friend
Clay, and without a chance to rehearse, the lifelong jazz drummer fumbled his way through the gig. "It was a disaster," he later recalled. "We stumbled through a few songs...actually,
Muddy taught me how to play the blues. He sat on the drums and did it himself, and it was so simple -- I guess that's why I couldn't get it."
Within days
Clay nevertheless mastered the
Waters repertoire and remained with the group for the next four years, a tenure highlighted by the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival date that yielded the classic live LP
Muddy Waters at Newport. Although
Clay parted ways with
Waters in 1961 to sign on with harpist
James Cotton, he returned to the fold in 1965 and remained for another two years, a period that coincided with contributions to now-classic Chicago blues sessions including
John Lee Hooker's
Live at Cafe Au Go Go and
Otis Spann's The Blues Is Where It's At. After again exiting the
Waters ranks,
Clay rejoined
Cotton for a tour of the West Coast -- health problems nagged him, however, and as the decade drew to a close he settled in San Francisco, where he played on a lengthy series of LPs for the local roots music label Arhoolie, backing artists ranging from Texas blues icon
Lightnin' Hopkins to zydeco immortal
Clifton Chenier.
Clay's commitments dwindled throughout the 1970s, and by the mid-'80s an arthritic knee effectively sidelined him for good. In 1995, the blues press reported that he had fallen on hard times, and the Oakland jazz club Yoshi's hosted an all-star benefit concert in his honor. In the following years
Clay still played the occasional live date and studio gig, making his final recorded appearance on guitarist
Roy Rogers' 2002 effort Slideways. He died January 23, 2008, at the age of 84. ~ Jason Ankeny