Clarence Seay
Clarence Seay (born January 7, 1957, Washington, DC) is an American jazz bassist and composer.
He has been an acoustic bassist with the Wallace Roney Quintet for over 15 years. Seay, also known as "Big C", is a disciple of the Paul Chambers school of jazz bass playing which features a style of walking harmonically inventive bass lines in a robust manner by positioning strings relatively high from the fingerboard – a practice mostly abandoned by modern bass players because of its physical difficulty.
In addition to Roney, Seay has recorded and/or toured domestically and internationally with several renowned jazz artists and groups including Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Wynton Marsalis,[1] Billy Harper, Chico Freeman, Lou Donaldson and the Smithsonian Jazz Works Orchestra.
Seay attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, with Wallace Roney and Gregory Charles Royal in the 1970s and attended Howard University with them and pianist Geri Allen in the 1980s. Seay was an adjunct professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond for over 10 years in the 1980s and 90s.
He was commissioned by the United States Post Office to compose and perform on their Album Commemorating America's Celebration of Jazz.
Discography
As sideman
With Wallace Roney
- Mistérios (Warner Bros., 1994)
- Village (Warner Bros., 1997)
With Billy Harper
- Destiny Is Yours (SteepleChase, 1990)
- If Our Hearts Could Only See (DIW, 1998)
- Soul of an Angel (Metropolitan, 2000)
- Blueprints of Jazz Vol. 2 (Talking House, 2008)
With Cindy Blackman
- Arcane (Muse, 1987)
- Telepathy (Muse, 1992 [1994])
With Wynton Marsalis
- Wynton Marsalis (Columbia, 1982)
- Gregory Charles Royal (with Geri Allen)
- Dream Come True
- David Esleck Trio (with Clarence Penn)
- Three
References
- ^ Yanow, Scott. allmusic
- v
- t
- e
- Dale Barlow
- Mickey Bass
- Terence Blanchard
- Joanne Brackeen
- Cameron Brown
- Donald Brown
- Bobby Broom
- Donald Byrd
- George Cables
- Buck Clarke
- Chick Corea
- Steve Davis
- Spanky DeBrest
- Sam Dockery
- Kenny Dorham
- Essiet Essiet
- Robin Eubanks
- Charles Fambrough
- Curtis Fuller
- Carlos Garnett
- John Gilmore
- Benny Golson
- Benny Green
- Johnny Griffin
- Bill Hardman
- Donald Harrison
- Philip Harper
- John Hicks
- Freddie Hubbard
- Dennis Irwin
- Javon Jackson
- Carter Jefferson
- Geoffrey Keezer
- Frank Lacy
- Brian Lynch
- Branford Marsalis
- Wynton Marsalis
- Jackie McLean
- Jymie Merritt
- Mulgrew Miller
- Hank Mobley
- Lee Morgan
- Billy Pierce
- Lonnie Plaxico
- Valery Ponomarev
- Wallace Roney
- Gregory Charles Royal
- David Schnitter
- Woody Shaw
- Clarence Seay
- Wayne Shorter
- Horace Silver
- Victor Sproles
- Bobby Timmons
- Jean Toussaint
- McCoy Tyner
- Cedar Walton
- Peter Washington
- Doug Watkins
- Bobby Watson
- James Williams
- Reggie Workman
albums
- The Jazz Messengers (1956)
- Hard Bop (1957)
- Ritual (1957)
- Selections from Lerner and Loewe's... (1957)
- Cu-Bop (1957)
- Hard Drive (1957)
- A Night in Tunisia (1958)
- Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk (1958)
- Moanin' (1959)
- The Big Beat (1960)
- A Night in Tunisia (1961)
- Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers (1961)
- Mosaic (1962)
- Buhaina's Delight (1963)
- Caravan (1963)
- The Freedom Rider (1964)
- Free for All (1964)
- Kyoto (1964)
- Golden Boy (1964)
- Indestructible (1965)
- 'S Make It (1965)
- Soul Finger (1965)
- Tough! (1966)
- Like Someone in Love (1967)
- The Witch Doctor (1969)
- Roots & Herbs (1970)
- Child's Dance (1972)
- Buhaina (1973)
- Anthenagin (1973)
- In Walked Sonny (1975)
- Backgammon (1976)
- Gypsy Folk Tales (1977)
- In My Prime Vol. 1 (1978)
- In My Prime Vol. 2 (1978)
- Reflections in Blue (1979)
- Night in Tunisia: Digital Recording (1979)
- Album of the Year (1981)
- Oh-By the Way (1984)
- Blue Night (1985)
- Feeling Good (1986)
- Not Yet (1988)
- I Get a Kick Out of Bu (1988)
- Chippin' In (1990)
- One for All (1990)
albums
- At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 (1956)
- At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2 (1956)
- A Midnight Session with the Jazz Messengers (1957)
- 1958 – Paris Olympia (1959)
- At the Jazz Corner of the World, Vols. 1 & 2 (1959)
- Art Blakey et les Jazz Messengers au Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (1960)
- Paris Jam Session (1960)
- Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World, Vols. 1 and 2 (1960)
- A Jazz Hour with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers: Blues March (1961)
- Three Blind Mice (1962)
- Ugetsu (1963)
- Buttercorn Lady (1966)
- Jazz Messengers '70 (1970)
- In This Korner (1978)
- Live at Montreux and Northsea (1980)
- One by One (1981)
- Art Blakey in Sweden (1981)
- Straight Ahead (1981)
- Keystone 3 (1982)
- Live at Kimball's (1985)
- The Art of Jazz: Live in Leverkusen (1989)
albums
- Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers (1956)
- The Cool Voice of Rita Reys (1956)
- Drum Suite (1957)
- Pisces (1979)
- Africaine (1981)
- Originally (1982)
albums
- Des Femmes Disparaissent (1959)
- Les liaisons dangereuses 1960 (1960)
solo albums
- Blakey (1954)*
- A Night at Birdland Vol. 1, Vol. 2 & Vol. 3 (1954)
- Orgy in Rhythm (1957)
- Art Blakey Big Band (1957)
- Holiday for Skins (1958)
- Drums Around the Corner (1959)
- The African Beat (1962)
- A Jazz Message (1963)
- Hold On, I'm Coming (1966)
- Killer Joe (1981)
- Bluesiana Triangle (1990)