Groovy People: A Tribute to Lou Rawls with Clinton Horton

Clinton “Clint” Horton is a North Carolina vocalist whose career spans jazz, R&B, soul, beach music, and vocal harmony groups. A longtime favorite in the Greensboro and Triad music scene, Horton first began singing publicly at age five after performing a church solo, later becoming active in church choirs and community vocal ensembles.

During high school, Horton formed a doo-wop group with friends, developing the close-harmony style that would shape his musical career. While attending college, he joined the vocal group The Capels, winners of several regional competitions, and later co-founded the R&B band The Spices featuring Salt n Pepper, performing throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia.

Horton became the first featured vocalist for Elon University’s jazz ensemble, The Emanons, touring across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Europe. Performance highlights included appearances at Disney World, the New York Jazz Festival, and the Grand Ball for the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg.

Over the years, Horton has performed with numerous regional groups including The Monza’s, Clear Smoke, Sleeping Bootie, The Lucius Wilson Band, and The Magnificents Band, which he joined as lead vocalist in 2006. He has also shared stages with legendary artists including The Four Tops, Jerry Butler, Percy Sledge, Rufus and Carla Thomas, The Coasters, Joe Simon, and Jackie Wilson.

In recent years, Horton has become a familiar jazz presence at Greensboro’s acclaimed O.Henry Hotel jazz series, where his warm baritone style and soulful interpretations of jazz standards and classic R&B have earned praise from audiences throughout the Triad. 

Matt Kendrick is an award-winning bassist, composer and recording artist from Winston-Salem. He studied European classical bass at the UNC School of the Arts and Jazz Improvisation with Jerry Coker at UT Knoxville. Matt Kendrick has appeared on bass with: The Marian McPartland Trio, Ernie Watts, Gene Bertoncini, Archie Shepp, Jaki Byard, Amiri Baraka (aka Leroi Jones), Craig Harris, Dick Hyman, and JoAnne Brackeen. He also won the North Carolina Jazz Composers Fellowship twice.

Dave Fox is an inventive keyboardist and composer celebrated for his versatility across modern mainstream jazz, avant-garde improvisation, rock, and classical music. Originally from North Carolina, he spent his early years in New Jersey, Texas, and Kwajalein, shaping a broad musical perspective.

Dave holds an Ed.D. in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, along with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Piano Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Since 1996, he has served as a full-time Professor of Music at Greensboro College. His recording career includes collaborations with a range of notable artists and projects that explore both free-form and melodic jazz.

Drew Hays, saxophone, actively performs as both a classical and jazz artist. He is a founding member and baritone saxophonist of the Piedmont Triad Jazz Orchestra and has performed throughout North Carolina with the group, including at the John Coltrane International Jazz Festival in High Point, and serves as one of the ensemble’s in-house arrangers. He performs regularly throughout the Greensboro and surrounding area with jazz small groups, including his own trio and quartet, the Guilford College Jazz Faculty Quintet, as well as the Wally West Little Big Band. Drew has toured throughout the U.S. and in the U.K. as the baritone saxophonist in the New Century Saxophone Quartet, and has performed with the Winston-Salem Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony, the Greensboro Symphony, the Roanoke Symphony, and the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra.

Drummer Kassem Williams was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the very young age of 8 Kassem started learning how to read music. By the age of 12 Kassem knew for sure that drumming was his life. At the age of 13 Kassem and his father moved to Charlotte, where he attended the Northwest Performing Arts High School. Kassem is a graduate of the Miles Davis School of Jazz at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He performs extensively all over the region.