Clancy Hayes: San Francisco Minstrel All songs are Clancy Hayes vocal, piano, guitar, washboard or drums, except as noted.
CLANCY HAYES 1A.mp3 SWEET SUE -- Clancy Hayes solo c. early 1960s PEORIA -- Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, 1949 ALEXANDER’S RAGTIME BAND -- Clancy solo, c. 1946 FRANKIE & JOHNNY -- Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band DANCING FOOL -- Clancy Hayes, 1963 WILLIE THE WEEPER -- personnel unknown KANSAS CITY STOMPS -- Bay City Boys WOLVERINE BLUES -- Bay City Boys
CLANCY HAYES 1B.mp3 BALLIN' THE JACK -- . . . with Tommy Gwaltney & the Blues Alley Cats, late 1960s ZYZZY ZUM ZUM -- Tune Termites, c. 1939 HUGGIN' & A CHALKIN’ -- solo at Earthquake McGoons, c. mid-1960s OCEANA ROLL -- solo at Earthquake McGoons, c. mid-1960s MOBILE -- solo at Earthquake McGoons, c. mid-1960s AUNTIE SKINNER’S CHICKEN DINNER -- Yerba Buena Jazz Band, c. 1949 I’M COMING VIRGINIA -- w/ the Original Salty Dogs, 1964 OH! BY JINGO -- w/ the Original Salty Dogs, 1964 WISE GUYS -- w/ the Original Salty Dogs, 1964 TRAVELIN’ SHOES -- Clancy Hayes solo, c. early 1960s
CLANCY HAYES 2A.mp3 SAILING DOWN CHESAPEAKE BAY -- Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, c. 1950 ROSE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE - solo AUNT HAGAR’S BLUES -- Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, 1949 KANSAS CITY STOMPS -- Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, 1950 ACE IN THE HOLE -- Bob Scobey’s Jazz Band Jazz Band, 1951 ALCOHOLIC BLUES -- Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, 1950 KEEPIN’ OUT OF MISCHIEF NOW -- Clancy w/ Bay City Jazz Band, McGoons Club, private tape
CLANCY HAYES 2B.mp3 CONEY ISLAND WASHBOARD -- Bob Scobey’s Jazz Band, mid-1950s TEN TO ONE ITS TENNESSEE -- Clancy with unknown personnel, c. 1947 OTTO’S NEW AUTO -- Clancy with unknown personnel, c. 1947 SWINGIN’ ON THE GOLDEN GATE - ABC RADIO NETWORK, c. 1943-44, private tape INTRO - SWINGIN’ ON THE GOLDEN GATE PAPER MOON BLUE SKIES (INSTR) THE OPERA SONG -- featuring the Mad Hatters ITS NEVER TO LATE TO PRAY -- Clancy vocal w/ chorus ABC SIGN OFF OCEANA ROLL -- Clancy Hayes, 1963 BEALE STREET MAMA -- Bob Scobey’s Jazz Band, mid-1950s BEALE STREET BLUES -- Bob Scobey’s Jazz Band, 1955 ST. JAMES INFIRMARY -- Bob Scobey’s Jazz Band, 1955
CLANCY HAYES 3A.mp3 MY LITTLE BIMBO -- w/ the Original Salty Dogs, 1964 2:19 BLUES -- possibly Bunk Johnson trumpet & Jack Teagarden, trombone, private tape, c. 1944 ACE IN THE HOLE -- Bunk Johnson & the Yerba Buena Jazz Band, 1944 TUNE TERMITES CLIP HUGGIN’ AND A CHALKIN’ (excerpt) -- Hoagy Carmichael w/ the Vic Schoen Orch, 1946 PARSON’S KANSAS BLUES -- private tape, c. 1947-48 TRAVELIN’ SHOES -- Bob Schulz’s Frisco Jazz Band SWINGIN’ DOORS -- Clancy Hayes & Band, c. late 1950s
CLANCY HAYES 3B.mp3 BILL BAILEY -- Bob Scobey’s Jazz Band JB, 1955 BROKEN PROMISES -- South Frisco Jazz Band STANDARD SCHOOL BROADCAST (excerpts) New Orleans, private tape, mid-1950s NARRATOR Clancy Hayes BASIN STREET BLUES -- trombone & vocal, Jack Teagarden STRUTTIN’ WITH SOME BARBEQUE UP A LAZY RIVER -- vocal, Louis Armstrong PANAMA GEO. WASHINGTON ABRAHAM LINCOLN ULYSSES S. ROBERT E. LEE - date unknown CLANCY’S PIANO RAG -- piano solo, 1972 CLANCY’S LAST RAG -- piano solo, 1972 TEN TO ONE ITS TENNESSEE -- solo w/ piano, 1947
Liner notes from: “SATCHEL OF SONG: CLANCY HAYES’ Private Collection: 1939 - 1972" Produced by Dave Radlauer for The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation
Clancy Hayes was a true minstrel: a one-of-a-kind singer, banjo player, composer and all-around entertainer. All of his remarkable talents as singer, drummer, pianist, lyricist, banjo/guitarist, and bandleader shine in this collection; not always true of his other recordings. While his commercial recordings are dear to devoted fans of Clancy there is a more intimate and relaxed side of the man heard in these private tapes that will thrill the true Clancophile and reveal the man’s greatness as an entertainer to the uninitiated.
Clancy supported himself his entire life as an entertainer beginning in the 1920’s in the Midwest, arriving in San Francisco in 1926 where he was heard on radio from 1928 through the 1950s. He was among the founding creators of the West Coast Traditional Jazz revival with Lu Watters and Turk Murphy. In the 1950s he became nationally known as a member of Bob Scobey’s Frisco Jazz Band, joined in the Standard School Broadcasts with Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden and Earl Hines, and mentored younger musicians.
Brush Soundmirror tape recorder similar to Clancy's
Clancy purchased one of the first available tape recorders around 1946 and began recording himself and his friends onto the earliest crude paper-backed magnetic tape with his beloved Brush Soundmirror. Hayes’ personal tape library grew, becoming a rich treasure trove of solos, rehearsals, and jam sessions with rarely heard musicians like clarinetist Hotz O’Casey, piano player Burt Bales, brothers Joe and Al Zohn, trombonist Bill Bardin and cornetist Vince Dodson.
Clancy’s private collection highlights his greatest strengths as a performer of song and melody: amiability and informality. Clancy is like a good friend sharing yet another of the thousand-and-one tunes from his bottomless satchel of song.
Clancy's personal microphone used for private recording sessions
After his passing in 1972 these tapes lay quietly unheard for decades, containing the legendary “Tune Termites” broadcasts, live performances, original songs and private moments.
Among the unique rarities and touching moments issued here for the first time are:
* The legendary “Tune Termites: boring from within.” Weekly radio broadcasts from the ‘30s and ‘40s of campy original material written and narrated in rhyme, sung by Clancy as he played drums with pianist Glen Hurlburt.
* Solo performances of his best original lyrics: “Ten to One It’s Tennessee,” “George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Robert E. Lee,” “Travelin’ Shoes,” “Huggin’ and a Chalkin’” and “Hassan, the One Man Caravan.”
* Some of his best ever solo efforts accompanying himself on guitar or piano during a pleasant Christmas eve at home entertaining his family.
* Mid-1960s gems documenting Clancy’s last decade including a grand “Willie the Weeper.”
* Clancy’s last moments on tape -- from a reel marked “Clancy - jaw removed” -- apparently from the early ‘70s after his cancerous jaw had been removed. Spirits undimmed and game to the end Clancy sat calmly at home (sparring with his parrot, here omitted) recording these final piano rags.
Special note on band personnel: Please note that for the band tunes the possible personnel listed are only educated guesses made with the assistance of Clancy’s old buddies, Bob Helm and Bill Bardin. All recordings were made in or around San Francisco; the band tunes probably at radio station KPO, Ma Watters’ at 24 Steiner, or at Pat Patton’s flat.
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