[1][2] She began playing the saxophone at the age of 12,[3] becoming interested in jazz when she attended a Buddy Rich performance at the Westchester County Center.
[2] After graduating, Daly played alto and tenor saxophone in two rock bands while performing jazz in the Boston area.
[4] In 2009, she began co-leading Two Sisters, Inc, featuring baritone saxophonist Dave Sewelson and bassist David Hofstra,[7] and recorded the album Scaribari.
[8] Her Mary Joyce Project, Nothing to Lose, was dedicated to her second cousin who was the first non Alaskan to travel 1,000 miles, solo, by dogsled from Juneau to Fairbanks (1935).
She backed up Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Joe Williams, Rosemary Clooney, Taj Mahal and Robert Palmer, among others.
[1][9] A DownBeat reviewer in 2011 wrote that Daly's "saxophone work and hard-bop-tinged, conversational compositions recall Dexter Gordon or Vince Guaraldi".
[8] The Director of the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble commented that "Claire Daly is a first-rate musician and educator who brings her soulfulness and thoughtfulness to all that she does.