Polygon JTE 100
Jazz Today
7” EP
Recorded 3/1/55 and 3/2/55

Tracks

Jeepers Creepers (Mercer & Warren) (A) (recorded 3/1/55)
Blue Jeans (Ash) (A) (recorded 3/1/55)
I Hear Music (Berlin) (B) (recorded 3/2/55)
Cocktails For Two (Johnston and Coslow) (B) (recorded 3/2/55)

Sleeve Notes

A couple of years back, I remember saying to Mike Nevard of the Melody Maker, anent popularity polls, “Musicians aren’t race horses and it’s silly to try placing them in order of merit as if they were.” Since then I have found my own position to be rather a curious one. It seems that as far as the modern approach on the clarinet is concerned I am entered in a one-horse race. I wonder why? Of course, the usual answer is that the instrument doesn’t suit the style of the music – but the obvious counter is to mention the name of Buddy de Franco.

There is another plausible explanation – that the clarinet is one of the more difficult instruments on which to obtain a technique sufficient to make a passable show. But I doubt if that is true. An instrument is as difficult as you make it, and what seems to be lacking among most players of my generation is enthusiasm for the clarinet. Not a lack of enthusiasm for listening and discussing, but a lack of enthusiasm for playing – almost as if the fruits of the labour didn’t justify the labour itself … which is a great shame, because the clarinet has a personality of its own, a certain charm and intimacy which the other reed instruments lack.

The Quartet is my current obsession, though Kenny Baker gave me the opportunity of keeping in touch with bigger bands by recruiting me for the original “Baker’s Dozen” broadcasts – an orchestra whose varieties in style and repertoire are unapproached anywhere in the country.

But it is the Quartet which takes most of my time now. I only hope that the public response to our efforts justifies the faith in the clarinet which I have and which so few younger musicians seem to share.

Vic Ash

Personnel

(A)
Vic Ash (cl.); Eddie Thompson (piano); Alan Ganley (drums); Bill Sutcliffe (bass)

(B)
Benny Goodman (drums) and Barry Hamilton (bass) replace Ganley and Sutcliffe

Sleeve:
Photography: Walter Hanlon
Typography: Ian Bradbery

Recording:
Balance: Allen Stagg, Tig Roe
Supervision: Denis Preston

Media mentions