Clancy Hayes
Encyclopedia
Clarence Leonard Hayes was a jazz
vocalist, banjo
ist and guitar
ist born November 14, 1908 in Caney, Kansas
. He lived in Parsons, Kansas
for a short time, and the town is the subject of his song "The Parsons, Kansas Blues": / Listen to it here. He worked always as a professional musician, turning up in San Francisco in 1926. By 1927 he was a regular on the music scene there. He performed regularly on radio in San Francisco until the 1950s when live music came to be replaced with recordings.
For two years beginning in 1938 he was a singer, banjoist and sometimes percussionist with Lu Watters
's Yerba Buena Jazz band, the group that helped spark the Dixieland revival that continues to this day. He went on to play with Bob Scobey
's Frisco Jazz Band for many years; both he and Scobey were alumni of Watters's earlier band, as was trombonist
Turk Murphy
at whose San Francisco nightclub Hayes often played. He recorded fairly widely and with many different groups.
Hayes's light baritone
singing is relaxed, unmannered and marked by a perfect sense of rhythm which allowed him to attack phrases at just the perfect instant, and his renditions of classics from the twenties and of moralistic saloon songs such as "Ace in the Hole", "Wise Guy" and "Silver Dollar" are splendid. Hayes wrote only one hit tune, "Huggin' and Chalkin'", made famous by Hoagy Carmichael, though Hayes himself recorded it with Scobey's band.
Hayes's banjo playing was essentially rhythmic rather than melodic and is generally unobtrusive and very tasteful, two qualities often lacking in jazz banjoists. He was unusual in playing a six-string banjo rather than the more common plectrum or tenor which have four strings.
He died in San Francisco in March 1972.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
vocalist, banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
ist and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist born November 14, 1908 in Caney, Kansas
Caney, Kansas
Caney is a city in Montgomery County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,966.-Geography:Caney is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 2,092...
. He lived in Parsons, Kansas
Parsons, Kansas
Parsons is a city in the northern part of Labette County, located in Southeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,500...
for a short time, and the town is the subject of his song "The Parsons, Kansas Blues": / Listen to it here. He worked always as a professional musician, turning up in San Francisco in 1926. By 1927 he was a regular on the music scene there. He performed regularly on radio in San Francisco until the 1950s when live music came to be replaced with recordings.
For two years beginning in 1938 he was a singer, banjoist and sometimes percussionist with Lu Watters
Lu Watters
Lucius "Lu" Watters was a trumpeter and bandleader of the Yerba Buena Jazz Band in the "West Coast revival" of Dixieland music...
's Yerba Buena Jazz band, the group that helped spark the Dixieland revival that continues to this day. He went on to play with Bob Scobey
Bob Scobey
Bob Scobey was an American jazz musician born in Tucumcari, New Mexico.He began his career playing in dance orchestras and nightclubs in the 1930s. In 1938 he worked as second trumpeter for Lu Watters in the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. By 1949 he was leading his own band under the name Bob Scobey's...
's Frisco Jazz Band for many years; both he and Scobey were alumni of Watters's earlier band, as was trombonist
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
Turk Murphy
Turk Murphy
Melvin Edward Alton “Turk” Murphy was renowned as a trombonist who played traditional and dixieland jazz in San Francisco....
at whose San Francisco nightclub Hayes often played. He recorded fairly widely and with many different groups.
Hayes's light baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
singing is relaxed, unmannered and marked by a perfect sense of rhythm which allowed him to attack phrases at just the perfect instant, and his renditions of classics from the twenties and of moralistic saloon songs such as "Ace in the Hole", "Wise Guy" and "Silver Dollar" are splendid. Hayes wrote only one hit tune, "Huggin' and Chalkin'", made famous by Hoagy Carmichael, though Hayes himself recorded it with Scobey's band.
Hayes's banjo playing was essentially rhythmic rather than melodic and is generally unobtrusive and very tasteful, two qualities often lacking in jazz banjoists. He was unusual in playing a six-string banjo rather than the more common plectrum or tenor which have four strings.
He died in San Francisco in March 1972.
Sources
- Waldo, Terry, This is Ragtime, Da Capo, 1991;
- liner notes to recording Vocals by Clancy Hayes, catalogue number GTJ12006;
- liner notes to recording Swingin’ Minstrel, catalogue number GTJ10050;
- liner notes to recording Oh! By Jingo!, catalogue number DMK210.
- A radio series by Dave RadlauerDave RadlauerDave Radlauer is the radio host of the five time award winning radio show Jazz Rhythm.Radlauer explores the works of well known and obscure musicians on his radio show Jazz Rhythm. In 2009 his show received its fifth award, that being a Gabriel Award. Radlauer plays traditional jazz music and...
about Clancy Hayes http://www.jazzhotbigstep.com/18301.html