ABOUT CLAY

Clay Cottis is an active drumset performer and educator in Alexandria, Virginia. He began playing at the age of 12, quickly joining many bands of different styles. At 17, Clay marched the Drum Corps International Division III bronze medalist Dutch Boy Drum and Bugle Corps as a snare drummer, where he also earned Rookie of the Year. From 2008-2013, Clay taught multiple high school percussion programs in central Florida while maintaining an active drumset gigging schedule. In 2013, Clay accepted a position as a percussionist with “The Commandant’s Own” United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps located in Washington, D.C., where he performed as a snare and tenor drummer until 2019. Clay currently maintains an active private lesson studio in Northern Virginia, serves as the Director of Percussion at Thomas Edison High School in Alexandria, VA, and is a Jazz Studies major at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Clay has performed at Radio City Music Hall, Lucas Oil Stadium, the Umbria Jazz Festival, the Ancona Jazz Festival, the Avenches Tattoo, The Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, Blues Alley, Hylton Performing Arts Center (Virginia), George Mason University Center for the Arts, and more. He has appeared on stage in multiple percussion contexts with “The Commandant’s Own” United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps, the New York Philharmonic, Darden Purcell, Shawn Purcell, Ben Patterson, Xavier Perez, Graham Breedlove, the Dutch Boy Drum and Bugle Corps, the Mason Jazz Ensemble, the Mason Jazz Vocal Ensemble, Mason Jazz Combos, the Braddock Road Brass Band, among others.