Jay Cameron (September 14, 1928 – March 20, 2001) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

reed musician who played the

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave ...

, baritone saxophone, and B-flat clarinet.

Career

Cameron began as an alto saxophonist but later recorded with bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, and B-flat clarinet. His career began in the early 1940s in Hollywood with Isaac M. Carpenter's band, with whom he played until 1947. Cameron moved to Europe near the end of the decade and played with

Rex Stewart Rex William Stewart Jr. (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra. Career As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet. Stewart drop ...

, Bill Coleman, Roy Haynes and Henri Renaud in France and Italy; in the early 1950s Cameron gigged around Belgium, Germany, and Scandinavia. In 1955 he played steadily in Paris with a band that included Bobby Jaspar,

Barney Wilen Bernard "Barney" Jean Wilen (4 March 1937 – 25 May 1996) was a French tenor and soprano saxophonist and jazz composer. Life Wilen was born in Nice, France; his father was an American dentist turned inventor, and his mother was French. He began ...

and Jean-Louis Chautemps. He returned to the United States in 1956, playing in the bands of

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...

(1956) and

Slide Hampton Locksley Wellington Hampton (April 21, 1932 – November 18, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tuba and flugelho ...

(1960). He also worked with

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

, Dizzy Gillespie,

Maynard Ferguson Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often serv ...

(1957–58), Freddie Hubbard (1958), Candido Camero,

Bill Barron William Barron (26 October 1917 – 2 January 2006) was an English sportsman, who played football in the higher leagues before the Second World War and, along with some football, first-class cricket afterwards. Sporting career William Barron ...

André Hodeir André Hodeir (22 January 1921 – 1 November 2011) was a French violinist, composer, arranger and musicologist. Biography Hodeir was born in Paris and trained as a classical violinist and composer. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, whe ...

, Hal McKusick, and Les and Larry Elgart. He led the International Sax Band and the Third Herdsmen. In the late-1960s, Cameron toured with Paul Winter.

Personal life

Cameron was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and died in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

Discography

As leader

* ''Jay Cameron's International Sax-Band'' (Swing, 1955)

As sideman

With

* ''

Slide Hampton and His Horn of Plenty ''Slide Hampton and His Horn of Plenty'' (titled ''Slide!'' on the back cover) is the debut album by American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger Slide Hampton which was released on the Strand label in 1961.Callahan, M., Watts, R. and David Edwa ...

'' (Strand, 1961) * ''

Sister Salvation ''Sister Salvation'' is an album by American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger Slide Hampton which was released on the Atlantic label in 1960.

'' (Atlantic, 1960) * '' Somethin' Sanctified'' (Atlantic, 1961) * ''Two Sides of Slide'' (Charlie Parker, 1961) * '' Jazz with a Twist'' (Atlantic, 1962) * '' Drum Suite'' (Epic, 1962) * ''

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Exo ...

'' (Philips, 1962) * ''Explosion! The Sound of Slide Hampton'' (Atlantic, 1962) With others *

, '' Modern Windows'' (Savoy, 1962) * Cándido Camero, ''Conga Soul'' (Roulette, 1962) *

, ''

A Message from Newport ''A Message from Newport'' is an album by jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson featuring tracks recorded in 1958 and originally released on the Roulette label.Minn, M. ichaelminn.net/discographies/maynard/?releases#Roulette-52012 Maynard Ferguson disc ...

'' (Roulette, 1960) * Dodo Greene, ''Ain't What You Do'' (Time, 1959) * Roy Haynes, ''Roy Haynes Modern Group'' (Swing, 1955) *

, ''Blues Groove'' (Capitol, 1956) * Andre Hodeir, ''American Jazzmen Play Andre Hodeir's Essais'' (Savoy, 1957) * Hal McKusick, ''Cross Section-Saxes'' (Decca, 1958) * Hal McKusick, ''Now's the Time'' (Decca, 1995) * Anthony Ortega, ''Jazz for Young Moderns (and Old Buzzards, Too)'' (Bethlehem, 1959) * Anthony Ortega, ''Earth Dance'' (Fresh Sound, 2001) * Herb Pomeroy & Maynard Ferguson, ''Trumpets Out Front'' (Vogue, 1971) * Paul Winter, ''New Jazz On Campus'' (Columbia, 1963) * Paul Winter, ''Jazz Meets the Folk Song'' (Columbia, 1964) * Paul Winter/ Bola Sete & Vince Guaraldi, ''Ralph J. Gleason's Jazz Casual'' (Koch, 2001)

References