Music and Vinyl: Buck Clayton with Woody Herman

The second "jam session" album from Buck Clayton and friends was notable for a couple of tracks featuring clarinettist and bandleader Woody Herman.

His participation in the recording was almost incidental; when he visited producer George Avakian on another matter it was suggested he might like to drop in to the Clayton session, and maybe bring his clarinet.

That he did, in fact, "drop in" was of great benefit to jazz enthusiasts since Herman's solos here were regarded as some of his best work to date.

The tracks were, as "jam sessions", completely unprepared, with soloists taking on choruses as the mood took them. For the title track, Avakian had asked Clayton to sketch out a melody to form the basis of the piece, and it's name, How Hi The Fi, was a play on the jazz standard How High The Moon - thought appropriate as Columbia were giving the sessions the best quality sound they could muster. Even in 1954 a little dig at the "audiophile" was quite amusing.

The personnel on the recording can be found from the scan of the sleeve below (click it to enlarge), and for those wanting to keep track of who's playing when, there's a handy "schedule of choruses" to look at.

The two tracks with Herman date from 1954, and there are two from late 1953 completing the album. My copy is a reissue from Pure Pleasure Records that spreads the tracks over four sides of 180gm vinyl giving the best chance for the Fi to be Hi.