Clarence Seay (born January 7, 1957, Washington, DC) is a jazz bassist and composer. He has been an acoustic bassist with the

Wallace Roney Wallace Roney (May 25, 1960 – March 31, 2020) was an American jazz (hard bop and post-bop) trumpeter. He has won 1 Grammy award and has two nominations. Roney took lessons from Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie and studied with Miles Davis fr ...

Quintet for over 15 years. Seay, also known as "Big C", is a disciple of the

Paul Chambers Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers Jr. (April 22, 1935 – January 4, 1969) was an American jazz double bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, he has become one of the most widely-known jazz bassists of the hard bop era. H ...

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 Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the ...

and the Jazz Messengers,

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awar ...

, Yanow, Scott. allmusic/ref>

Billy Harper Billy Harper (born January 17, 1943) is an American jazz saxophonist, "one of a generation of Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists" with a distinctively stern, hard-as-nails sound on his instrument.Chris KelseyBilly Harper Biography ''AllMusi ...

Chico Freeman Chico Freeman (born Earl Lavon Freeman Jr.; July 17, 1949) is a modern jazz tenor saxophonist and trumpeter and son of jazz saxophonist Von Freeman. He began recording as lead musician in 1976 with ''Morning Prayer'', won the New York Jazz Awar ...

Lou Donaldson Lou Donaldson (born November 1, 1926) is an American retired jazz alto saxophonist. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily i ...

and the Smithsonian Jazz Works Orchestra. Seay attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, with

and

Gregory Charles Royal Gregory Charles Royal, also known as Chuck Royal, is an American musician, trombonist, composer, writer, co-founder of '' The BeBop Channel''. founder of the New York Jazz Film Festival, a judge on '' America's Hot Musician''. and the artistic d ...

in the 1970s and attended Howard University with them and pianist

Geri Allen Geri Antoinette Allen (June 12, 1957 – June 27, 2017) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. In addition to her career as a performer and bandleader, Allen was also an associate professor of music at the University of Pittsburgh ...

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

*''

Mistérios ''Mistérios'' is an album by American jazz trumpeter Wallace Roney, recorded in 1994 and released on the Warner Bros. label. Reception The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow stated: "Trumpeter Wallace Roney avoids the standard repertoire altogeth ...

'' (Warner Bros., 1994) *''

Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

'' (Warner Bros., 1997) With

* '' Destiny Is Yours'' ( SteepleChase, 1990) * ''

If Our Hearts Could Only See ''If Our Hearts Could Only See'' is an album led by saxophonist Billy Harper recorded in 1997 and released on the Japanese DIW label.B ...

'' (DIW, 1998) *'' Soul of an Angel'' (Metropolitan, 2000) *''

Blueprints of Jazz Vol. 2 ''Blueprints of Jazz Vol. 2'' is an album by saxophonist Billy Harper recorded in 2006 and released in 2008 on the Talking House Records label. It is part of the ''Blueprints of Jazz'' series conceived, produced and recorded by Talking House Produ ...

'' (Talking House, 2008) With Cindy Blackman * ''

Arcane Arcane may refer to: Books and comics * Anton Arcane, a DC Comics character * Arcane Jill Watson, a character in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' * Arcane literature, such as in Cthulhu Mythos Gaming * Arcane magic (''Dungeons & Drago ...

'' (Muse, 1987) *''

Telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

'' (Muse, 1992 994 With

(Columbia, 1982) ;Gregory Charles Royal (with

) * ''Dream Come True'' ;David Esleck Trio (with

Clarence Penn Clarence Lacquese Penn (born March 2, 1968) is an American jazz drummer and composer. Early life Penn was born in Detroit on March 2, 1968.Kennedy, Gary W"Clarence Penn" ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'' (2nd edition). Grove Music Online. Ox ...

) * ''Three''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seay, Clarence American jazz double-bassists Male double-bassists Living people 1957 births 21st-century double-bassists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians