The Big Man, Much More Than Springsteen’s Sideman

I never saw him perform live, but everytime I saw him perform, I was impressed. He was definitely comfortable in his own skin. Mr. Clemons you will be missed.

It was never just about the saxophone. In more than three decades wielding his tenor sax with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, from its beginning in 1972 to his death at 69 on Saturday, Clarence Clemons was as much a symbol as a sideman.

He played an essential role in Mr. Springsteen’s songs, particularly in the E Street Band’s first years. Mid-1970s songs like “Jungleland,” “Incident on 57th Street” and “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” stretched out like suites, and in their instrumental interludes Mr. Clemons’s saxophone parts testified to wordless yearning, to determined striving and to comical gumption. Even after Mr. Springsteen chose to write shorter, pop-structured songs, making concision his new discipline, Mr. Clemons held his place: as the honking foundation of “Hungry Heart” and the longed-for dance partner in “Dancing in the Dark.”

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