Pye Nixa NJE 1032
Nixa Jazz Today Series
7” EP
Recorded 11/12/56
Tracks
Side 1
(a) Cinders (Ash)
(b) You took advantage of me (Rodgers, Hart)
Side 2
(a) Ash Felt (Smith)
(b) With the wind and the rain in your hair (Lawrence, Edwards)
(Recorded 11:12:56)
Sleeve Notes
Vic Ash + Four by Benny Green
On these sides clarinettist Ash augments his Quartet in a most interesting manner by adding the eclectic trombone of Keith Christie, one of the most talented all-round jazzmen in Europe today. Derek Smith, who was responsible for most of the arranging on these tracks, achieves an unusually tasteful tonal blend with a trombone-clarinet front line, besides contributing an original to the repertoire – the allusively titled “Ash Felt”.
Two of the numbers featured here belong to the song lists of the past. You Took Advantage Of Me is the familiar Rodgers Lorenz Hart evergreen; The Wind And The Rain, a meteorological masterpiece by Edwards and Lawrence, dates back to the Hollywood of the early ‘forties. Jazz fans may recall previous versions by Stan Getz and Tal Farlow. The fourth of these tracks, Cinders, an original by the leader, is based on the twelve bar blues progression.
Clarinet playing in the modern manner is an art sadly neglected outside the United States, and the various recordings of Vic Ash form the bulk of the scanty evidence that there are any clarinettists in this country at all capable of moving through modern changes in a melodic manner.
The addition of trombone further increases the musical interest of this musicianly group, and naturally affords much wider ground on which to experiment with writing. The Quartet on these sides has been transformed into a group with two voices in the front line – a transformation as radical as it is stimulating. For with two voices to juggle with, the craft of musical strategy becomes an important factor. This record admirably demonstrates that craft in action, allied to the felicitous improvising of the leader, and the restrained, relaxed rhythm section of Derek Smith, Sammy Stokes and the ubiquitous Phil Seamen on drums.
Personnel
Vic Ash-clarinet
Keith Christie-trom.
Derek Smith-piano
Sammy Stokes-bass
Phil Seamen-drums
Sleeve:
Design: Ian Bradbery
Photography: Walter Hanlon
Recording:
Balance: Joe Meek
Supervision: Denis Preston
Nixa Jazz Today 