Clarence Leonard Hayes (November 14, 1908 – March 13, 1972) [1] was an American jazz vocalist and banjo player. His regular banjo was a six string one, which is tuned as a guitar.
Hayes was born in Caney, Kansas, on November 14, 1908. [2] As a child, he learned the drums, then switched to guitar and banjo. [2]
Hayes was part of a vaudeville troupe in the Midwest after 1923, and lived in San Francisco from 1927. [2] He became more popular in the 1930s through radio and club performances. [2] From 1938 to 1940 he played in a big band led by Lu Watters, after which he spent a decade with the Yerba Buena Jazz Band, playing rhythm banjo and, on occasion, drums. [3] He spent almost all of the 1950s singing with Bob Scobey's band. [3]
In the 1960s he led his own bands, which also recorded for various labels. [3] He also played with the Firehouse Five Plus Two, Turk Murphy, and a group that evolved into the World's Greatest Jazz Band. [3] As a vocalist, "Hayes was noted for his straightforward singing of ballads and his flamboyant delivery of livelier songs." [2] He died in San Francisco on March 13, 1972. [2]
With Bob Scobey