Clemons Sees Busy Future at the End of the Street : Pop: Springsteen’s saxophonist is now free to do his own thing but hopes this isn’t finish of the E Street Band.

Clarence Clemons, on the phone from his Marin County home, paused to find the right words to describe how he felt when Bruce Springsteen, his boss for nearly two decades, called him and said that he wasn’t going to need the E Street Band, at least for now.

“It’s a blessing,” Clemons said. “And also . . . a hurt.

“It wasn’t what I thought I’d hear. Bruce called me and said that he wanted to try something different. He didn’t mean that it was the end of the E Street Band, but for now we were free to do what we want.”

Clemons, who opens a series of Southland dates with his own band tonight at the Strand in Redondo Beach, has enjoyed immense visibility as Springsteen’s saxophonist and sidekick since well before the New Jersey rocker rose to the top of the pop world. For much of that time, the Virginia native and former counselor for emotionally disturbed and mentally retarded children was Springsteen’s first lieutenant, symbolized by his sharing the cover of the “Born to Run” album in one of the classic rock buddies photos of all time.

“Being together for 18 years, it was a sad thing to see it end,” Clemons said. “But on the other hand, I’m free now to do my own thing and not worry about Bruce saying you have to stop and come back to work. I’m sure this isn’t the end of the E Street Band, but if it is, I enjoyed it, had a great time with a great band, a benchmark in rock ‘n’ roll.”

Clemons’ part in that was prominent, if not essential.

“I aided in bringing back the saxophone to its rightful place in rock ‘n’ roll,” he said proudly. “And all those things that came out with the two of us, the image we presented. I look back on that and there’s a lot of joy and respect.”

But the truth is that Clemons’ role in the E Street Band had diminished. His saxophonic contributions, both on albums and in concert, became more scarce in the ‘80s, and in the 1987 “Tunnel of Love” tour much of his role as Springsteen’s No. 1 foil had been usurped by singer Patty Scialfa.

“Bruce stopped using saxophone as much as before,” Clemons said. “It was just a matter of direction and his choice. Of course I wanted to play more, but there was no space to play. That’s one of the reasons I got my own band and go out and play with other people. And maybe that’s one of the reasons I moved out here to Marin. I saw the handwriting on the wall, I guess.”

Clemons also took on a number of outside projects in the past several years. His new “A Night With Mr. C” album is his third, with a particular emphasis on updating the history of rock ‘n’ roll sax. Among the selections are contemporary versions of such sax classics as Jr. Walker’s “Shotgun” and Gary U.S. Bonds’ “Quarter to Three.”

“These are some of my favorites,” he said. “I wanted to modernize them because I wanted the kids today to hear them. They’re good songs and I wanted to keep the good times alive.”

Clemons has also become a regular in Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia’s side band, and toured recently with Ringo Starr along with Dr. John and Band members Levon Helm and Rick Danko.

“Playing with them is like the old days with Bruce--just a bunch of guys playing their hearts out,” he said of both outfits. “I guess the E Street Band lost a little of that as the years went on. Things became a little more refined.”

Out of Ringo’s band has come an opportunity in another direction Clemons hopes to follow more: acting. Helm, an experienced actor, has gotten Clemons and some of the others involved in a film now in development about an old Nashville R&B; band getting back together after 20 years. And Clemons has appeared recently on “The Tracy Ullman Show” and “Jake and the Fat Man,” and hopes to do some stage work in the Bay Area.

“I like playing my natural role as a good guy,” he said. “No pimps or drug dealers. I guess I should never say never, but I like being myself, the good guy, the guy in the white hat.”