No emerging musician wants to stand in the shadow of a famous relative. So it was with no disrespect to his uncle that, early in his career, Jake Clemons shed his last name and performed as Jake Christian.
"In an effort to establish myself, I used my mother's maiden name," says Clemons, 33, saxophonist for the E Street Band. "I didn't want people saying, 'Oh, that's this person's kid.' I felt like I needed to earn my way.
"But the hilarious thing was that while I was Jake Christian, people who’d have no idea who I was would hear me play sax, and say, ‘You sound just like Clarence Clemons.’ And I’d laugh under my breath."
In the past 18 months, thousands upon thousands of Bruce Springsteen fans have said the same thing. Jake Clemons’ saxophone solos on the recently concluded Wrecking Ball Tour have been delivered with remarkable fidelity to the source material. Jake’s determination to carry on tradition has been deeply appreciated by a Springsteen fan base still grieving over the loss of Clarence Clemons. The Boss has presented Jake not as a reincarnation of his former foil, but as the proud carrier of a brilliant torch.
Yet Jake Clemons is not, by nature, a musician who reproduces the sound of famous recordings. While his uncle is his inspiration and the reason he picked up a saxophone in the first place, he’s also been influenced by improvisational artists such as John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Clemons’ work to prepare for the Wrecking Ball Tour was, simultaneously, pleasure and tribute.
"Every one of the notes in a song like ‘Jungleland’ was written with purpose," says Clemons, who has also played sax with Eddie Vedder, Glen Hansard of the Frames, and Dispatch, among other rockers. "Having an improv background, I had to understand how important each one of those notes were to the story of the music, and the story of people’s lives as they related to the song. Despite Bruce Springsteen’s amazing lyrics, the notes of the saxophone spoke as much to people as the words did. So I felt the weight of each of those notes very deeply."
In his own combo, which comes to the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood on Dec. 27 in support of pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph, Clemons sings and plays guitar as well as saxophone, and applies both the improvisational spirit of his jazz heroes and the discipline and power of the E Street Band to his own compositions. Clemons’ music draws from blues, gospel, country and Britpop, and he acknowledges that its variety might astonish those who know him only as a part of the E Street Band. Though he’s playing in clubs and theaters instead of stadiums and arenas, for Clemons, it’s all part of the same mission.
"The most significant thing to me is that the healing doesn’t stop," says the deeply spiritual Clemons. "It doesn’t stop on the E Street stage. It has to continue on my stage as well.
"There’s hurt in this world, and the complexities of the spiritual experience of playing music like the Wrecking Ball Tour has to go on. Because losing this iconic father figure will continue to have resonance — not just for me, but for other people, too."
Although Clemons never planned on joining the E Street Band, Clarence Clemons spoke to him many times about the possibility of carrying on his legacy in the group. Clemons, protective of his uncle, would tell him not to talk like that. The elder Clemons’ death in June 2011, from complications caused by a stroke, made the transition all too real.
"I was devastated," says Clemons. "Clarence and I spent a lot of time together. I was the best man at his last wedding. When Bruce said it was elemental — like losing the rain — without a doubt, it was for me.
"Bruce was very generous and kind, and followed up with me on a personal level, just out of care, to find out how I was doing."
Months later, after the recording and release of the "Wrecking Ball" album, Springsteen tapped Jake Clemons to share saxophone duties with Ed Manion in the expanded E Street Band. In February 2012, Clemons stood on the stage of the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, alongside musicians he'd known since he was a boy, and played the first E Street concert without Clarence by the Boss' side. Every time he put his lips to his mouthpiece and blasted out one of his uncle's solos, the audience went wild.
"Getting on that stage and putting that horn to my mouth was so important to my healing. Every time I’d blow that horn, it made me more aware what Clarence meant to me. Walking into that environment with the greatest live band in the world wasn’t necessarily a celebration — because we were all hurting — but it was a very real moment of connection with Clarence and a conduit to him."
The emergence of Jake Clemons was a running subplot on the Wrecking Ball Tour — and like almost everything about the circuit, it ended happily. Each time, fans would wonder if the saxophonist would be able to handle a difficult song associated with his uncle ("Jungleland," "Ramrod," "Rosalita"), he rose to the occasion with a house-rocking performance. Clemons was growing, and doing so on a tour that, as it progressed, became about rejuvenation and perseverance.
"From my experiences being around the band — and I’ll leave the reason up to everyone who experienced it to say — this tour was different. The Wrecking Ball show got just bigger and stronger as it went.
"Personally, I’ve never had this emotional level attached to a tour," he says." In most cases, as a musician, you believe in what you do and you go out and do it well. This experience for me was so much greater than that. Beyond all the fun and excitement, the importance of the show and its significance to the world was real."
The Jake Clemons Band
Where: Bergen Performing Arts Center, 30 N. Van Brunt St., Englewood
When: Dec. 27 at 8 p.m., opening for Robert Randolph & the Family Band
How much: $29 to $49; call (201) 816-8160 or visit bergenpac.org.