John Clay, About Time Review

About Time: John Clay on Feel, Form, and Trust

by Ferell Aubre

On About Time, drummer John Clay builds an album journey around a shared musical language that comes from a strong relationship. There is a particular ease that reveals itself when musicians have a shared musical language. This ease is rooted in trust. About Time is built on that kind of relationship. Clay’s rhythmic authority allows the music to unfold communally, with form shaped through feel, listening, and collective breath.

The personnel on About Time reflect Clay’s intention to build a cohesive core while allowing select voices to color the narrative. At the center are Clay and pianist Enrique Haneine, joined throughout by bassist Sean Conly, whose grounded, melodic presence reinforces the album’s relaxed sense of time. Shunzo Ohno (trumpet and flügelhorn) and Matt Garrison (tenor and soprano saxophones) appear on select tracks, expanding the flow. Vocalist Ruby Pucillo is featured on “Alice in Wonderland” and “Highway 14,” bringing a poised, stylistically informed approach that integrates naturally into the ensemble. Together, these voices underscore the album’s central value: collective feel over individual display.

Clay’s time feel functions as a unifying force throughout “A Lark.” In close dialogue with pianist Enrique Haneine, he shapes phrases from within the form rather than imposing structure from above, allowing melodies to settle and transitions to feel naturally shaped. The result is a performance that remains clear without becoming rigid. The relaxed tutti of the melody. The drive beneath the surface that lets the architecturally counterpoint sound natural in the development of the melody. Haneine’s piano solo is a joy to listen to as he converses with Clay.  Conly’s bass finds Clay switching to brushes, but still keep the energy.

“Alice in Wonderland” offers a clear example of the ensemble approach to the jazz canon in a post-bop language. Marking the swinging waltz feel, Clay phrases with the melody, allowing structure to register through contour and pacing. His drumming gently confirms where the music is going without announcing it, creating a sense of trust that frees the listener from counting or anticipation. Time here becomes a guide rail as vocalist Pucillo turns in a wonderful interpretation of the medley and a stirring scant performance.

At higher energy levels, the core trio principle holds, as in Chick Corea’s “Humpty Dumpty.” Clay maintains a buoyant forward swing motion that keeps the tune playful without sacrificing clarity. On soprano saxophone, Garrison trades flowing phrases with Haneine. Each aligns with Clay’s accents. This unity arrives as part of the phrase, and the form stays legible through continuity rather than emphasis. Even amid angular lines and quick turns, Clay’s feel encourages trust.

That trust is perhaps most exposed on “Stella by Starlight,” which takes on a modern post-bop coloring with an engaging two-horn frontline.  The written counterpoint to the melody is interesting. Clay approaches time as the presence of pulse, responding to the gestures of the soloist with cymbal color, space, and stimulus. What emerges is a shared sense of pacing, as Haneine, Ohno, and Garrison reveal their solos organically through listening. Here, the album’s central idea becomes unmistakable, and structure arises from the relationship between the performers.

Billy Drummond’s “Dubai” extends this concept across a longer arc with the two-horn front line. Clay is steering the performance to develop with patience and proportion. His time feel remains consistent even as textures thicken and solos unfold, holding the track together without narrowing its scope. The result is expansiveness without losing alignment. a long-form narrative guided by feel rather than force. Both horn players turn in exemplary solos, with excellent accompaniment by Haneine, Clay, and Conly.

Throughout About Time, the rhythmic interaction between Clay and the ensemble unfolds in a distinctly linear, conversational manner. Phrases answer phrases; listening is treated as an active element. Time is communicated as a placement of feel. This is what gives these performances the ability to reach the listener. The album rewards listening because it models how musical coherence grows out of musicians’ listening and building relationships.