Victor "Vic" Ash (9 March 1930 – 24 October 2014) was an English

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

saxophonist and clarinettist.

Biography

Ash was born in East London in 1930, and was of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

ancestry. He began learning clarinet at the age of 14, then switched to saxes.John Chilton. ''Who's Who of British Jazz'' (1997), p. 8 After working as a salesman he began playing professionally in 1951 when, with

Tubby Hayes Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes (30 January 1935 – 8 June 1973) was a British jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his virtuosic musicianship on tenor saxophone and for performing in jazz groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and trump ...

, he joined the band of Kenny Baker, with whom he played until 1953. Following this association, Ash played with

Vic Lewis Victor Lewis MBE (29 July 1919 – 9 February 2009) was a British jazz guitarist and bandleader. He also enjoyed success as an artists' agent and manager. Performing career He was born in London, England to a family of jewellers. Lewis beg ...

(1953–56), then accompanied

Hoagy Carmichael Hoagland Howard "Hoagy" Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor, author and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s and 1940s, a ...

and

Cab Calloway Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...

on their English tours. He led his own group and was a favourite in the ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' fan polls of the 1950s; concurrently he had a radio program called ''Sunday Break'', which discussed jazz and religion. In 1954, the Vic Ash Quartet recorded with US singer

Maxine Sullivan Maxine Sullivan (May 13, 1911 – April 7, 1987), born Marietta Williams in Homestead, Pennsylvania, United States, was an American jazz vocalist and performer. As a vocalist, Sullivan was active for half a century, from the mid-1930s to just b ...

in London. Ash toured the U.S. in 1957 and returned to play with Lewis in 1959. His ensemble was the only one representing

British jazz British jazz is a form of music derived from American jazz. It reached Britain through recordings and performers who visited the country while it was a relatively new genre, soon after the end of World War I. Jazz began to be played by British ...

at the

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...

that year. Ash remained a mainstay of the British jazz scene for decades, playing in small and large ensembles including the

BBC Big Band The BBC Big Band, originally known as the BBC Radio Big Band is a British big band, previously run under the auspices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The band broadcasts exclusively on BBC Radio, particularly on BBC Radio 2's long ...

and Harry Stoneham's Band. He accompanied

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

on tours in Europe and the Middle East (such as the Aryamehr concert) from 1970 until Sinatra's death, and also accompanied

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the C ...

and

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

. Ash released many albums for Pye, Nixa and

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, mostly in the mainstream jazz tradition. Vic Ash's co-authored autobiography ''I Blew It My Way'' ( Northway Publications) was published in 2006.

Personal life and death

Ash was the cousin of guitarist Maurice Ash. He died on 24 October 2014. He was survived by his wife, Helen, who he married in 1982.Vic Ash Biography
''www.henrybebop.co.uk'' Retrieved 21 June 2020

References

* Vic Ashat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ash, Vic 1930 births 2014 deaths English jazz bandleaders English jazz clarinetists English jazz saxophonists British male saxophonists British male jazz musicians 20th-century British saxophonists Jewish English musicians