Jay Cameron (September 14, 1928 – March 20, 2001) was an American jazz reed musician who played the bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, and B-flat clarinet.

Jay Cameron
BornSeptember 14, 1928
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedMarch 20, 2001 (aged 72)
San Diego, California, U.S.
GenresJazz
InstrumentsBass clarinet, baritone saxophone, clarinet

Career edit

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.[1]

Cameron moved to Europe near the end of the decade and played with Rex Stewart, 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 and Jean-Louis Chautemps. He returned to the United States in 1956, playing in the bands of Woody Herman (1956) and Slide Hampton (1960). He also worked with Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson (1957–58), Freddie Hubbard (1958), Candido Camero, Bill Barron, André Hodeir, 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 edit

Cameron was born in New York City and died in San Diego.[2]

Discography edit

As leader edit

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

As sideman edit

With Slide Hampton

With others

Further reading edit

  • Jay Cameron at Allmusic
  • Bill Moody, The Jazz Exiles:American Musicians Abroad. Includes a chapter on Cameron.

References edit

  1. ^ "Jay Cameron: Sax Band, 1955 - JazzWax". www.jazzwax.com. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  2. ^ Feather, Leonard; Gitler, Ira (2007). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-532000-8.