Clayton Bailey (1939–2020) was an American artist, sculptor, performer and maker of unusual jaw harps based in Port Costa, California. He was a prominent figure in California Funk art and the related Nut Art movement, and taught ceramics at California State University, Hayward, from 1968 to 1996. In 2011, the Crocker Art Museum presented a retrospective spanning fifty years of his work.

Bailey was introduced to the jaw harp and mouth bow by musician Dennis Murphy in the early 1960s. Together with art and music students, he took part in improvisations based on medieval, Asian and American folk music. Jaw harps later became part of Bailey’s own artistic world: in 2004, he performed on the album Kaolithic Music: Sounds from the Pre-Credulous Age.

The Jewsaphone CB112 represented in the catalogue combines a metal jaw harp with a detachable brass bell. The bell provides only moderate amplification but projects the sound, alters its timbre and increases the instrument’s sensitivity to the player’s breathing.

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