Francis Clay

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."