Francis Clay was a beloved elder statesman among local blues musicians and fans since his arrival in the Bay Area in the late '60s, played behind many of the most-renowned entertainers of the 20th century - Gypsy Rose Lee, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker and countless others.



Francis Clay's initial four-year stint with Muddy Waters included a 1960 appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival - the first by a blues performer - preserved on the 'Live at Newport' album. That album, which included band hits such as Got My Mojo Workin', made an impression worldwide, notably on young British groups just beginning their careers, such as the Rolling Stones, who took their name from another Muddy Waters song.



It was a pivotal point in the history of popular music, as blues players who had only recently added amplification and drumming to the guitar- and harmonica-focused music they'd brought from the South, went on to inspire the new generation of early rock 'n' roll artists. Francis Clay's unique style of play attracted wide notice. Stones drummer Charlie Watts called him "one of the most exciting drummers" he'd ever seen or heard.



Biography

Drummer Francis Clay was born in Rock Island, IL, on November 16, 1923. Learning music from his family, Clay was playing some guitar and entering amateur contests at the age of five. But it was drums that fascinated him and he would create his own drum set from things around the house.



Francis was playing professionally by 14, and at 16 was hired into the Jay McShann Band, which at the time included Parker and Gillespie.



He went on to form his own group and worked on riverboats, in the circus and in Chicago-area jazz bands.



He married the late Connie Knight Zia in 1947 and was in New York in 1957 when he heard Muddy Waters needed a drummer.



Francis Clay's innovative, jazz-inflected style did not immediately mesh with Waters' down-home blues, but before long, he recalled, nightclub patrons "were lined up down the block."



Francis Clay's educated and professional approach to his work also won the respect of his contemporaries.



The drummer left Waters to form a band with Waters' harmonica player James Cotton and work with other Chicago blues artists such as Jimmy Reed, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy before rejoining Waters in 1965.



After coming to California on tour with Cotton in the late '60s, Francis Clay, who suffered from asthma and arthritis, decided that California weather suited him and he relocated West.



Moving to San Francisco enabled him to accept recording work at El Cerrito's Arhoolie Records, for whom he backed Big Mama Thornton, Lightnin' Hopkins and Clifton Chenier, among others.



Among Francis Clay's last recordings were appearances on Roy Rogers' "Slideways" album and Johnny Dyer's "Rolling Fork Revisited," with Bay Area harmonica player and bandleader Mark Hummel.



Francis Clay died in his sleep Tuesday, January 22, 2008 in his San Francisco apartment. He was 84. Francis was survived by a son, Lonnie Lowe, a Minneapolis preacher.