James Clay – born September 8, 1935 in Dallas, Texas – was a jazz musician that specialized in the tenor saxophone and flute. He learned to play alto saxophone while in school, moving on to play with local bands at the age of 17. In 1955, at the age of 20, he moved to California and became part of the thriving jazz scene. After taking part in jam sessions, he recorded 1956’s Tenorman with the Lawrence Marable Quartet featuring Sonny Clark. Soon, he began performing or recording with other musicians including Red Mitchell, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and Billy Higgins. He returned to Dallas in 1958, then joined the military the following year. In 1960, he recorded the albums The Sound of Wide Open Spaces!!!! and A Double Dose of Soul. He spent a short time in California again, leading a quartet with Jimmy Bond, Roosevelt Wardell, and Frank Butler, but ended up back in Texas. Clay spent the next two decades touring with Lowell Fulson and Ray Charles as well as recording with Hank Crawford (1964’s True Blue). His career faded out for a while, but an appearance on Don Cherry’s 1988 album Art Deco brought Clay back into the spotlight. He recorded his own solo releases – I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart (1989) and Cookin’ at the Continental (1992) – while guesting on albums by Bill Perkins, Billy Higgins, and David ‘Fathead’ Newman. James Clay died on January 6, 1995 in Dallas Texas.
