Clay is a versatile, earthy material used to create pottery, bricks, sculptures and tiles. Michael Clay, who will be opening the Friday Night Jazz series of concerts at Woodmere Art Museum on Friday, Sept. 25, is a versatile musician who uses the saxophone (and other instruments) to create sculptures of musical notes that are just as versatile and artistic as clay.

Clay will be playing the music of Charlie “Bird” Parker (1920-1955), a revolutionary alto saxophonist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique and advanced harmonies. Clay will play such Parker classics as “Now’s the Time” and “Confirmation.”

Parker introduced new rhythmic and harmonic complexity into jazz, innovations that had not been heard before. Jazz would never be the same after Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Clay’s performance will also honor Moe Brooker (1940-2022) an esteemed African American artist and passionate admirer of Parker and bebop whose work will be on exhibit at Woodmere starting Sept. 26.

Warren Oree, a prominent jazz musician himself and founder of the Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble and spokesperson for the Woodmere Friday Night Jazz series, said, “I’ve known Mike Clay for several years, and he is a seasoned and experienced sax player, knowledgeable without being stiff. He’s adept at any genre of the music and plays with soul and style.”

Born in Philadelphia and raised in Queens, New York, Clay moved back to Philadelphia in 2007. “I was supposed to get married here,” Clay told the Local last week. “That did not work out, but I stayed here. I have been playing music since the age of 9, self-taught. I stopped playing in 1994 because I felt defeated, but I picked it up again in 2013.”

After calling a halt to his musical journey, Clay started driving a tractor/trailer, then drove a tour bus all over the East Coast and Middle America. “Old guys had the local jobs all tied up,” he said.

In addition to the saxophone, Clay, who has lived in Delaware County for the past 13 years and before that in West Oak Lane, is also self-taught on the trumpet, clarinet, piano and drums. And he sings. He has played with some very successful individuals and groups such as the Spinners, O’Jays, Deniece Williams, Rose Royce and The Stylistics. He plays on the popular Soul Train Cruise twice a year.

“Since I have played with Arpeggio,” he said, “it has widened my range. I never before saw myself as a jazz musician, just as a musician. But Warren (Oree) liked what he heard, and it has made me much better. It’s humbling for me to play with people who have been doing this their whole lives. It’s a serious blessing. I play music about six times a week, 40 times a month. I have done a little classical music also with an orchestra but never as a solo.

“I have to be busy. My own favorite musician is Cannonball Adderley. Also ‘Bird,’ Coltrane, Oscar Peterson and Max Roach. I am blessed to be a full-time musician because so many have to work other jobs. I’m making my own CD, and I have a Christmas album coming out. I have my own recording studio. I do R&B and smooth jazz, and I also play with Rick James’ Stone City Band. But I am very judgmental and critical of my own playing.”

The Woodmere Art Museum Friday Night Jazz series will consist of 12 events. After Clay’s performance, audiences can hear the music of Motown, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder, Afrocentric Jazz, avant-garde jazz, Marvin Gaye, the David Winslow Gospel Singers and Nina Simone.

In the last concert on Dec. 18, vocalist Suzanne Burgess honors Nina Simone’s extraordinary legacy with selections including “Four Women,” “Mississippi Goddam” and “Feeling Good.” The evening will also feature harpist Medgina Maitre.

For more information, visit woodmeremuseum.org, then click on “Happening” and then “Jazz.” Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.