Possibly The Most Difficult Record Copy Ever Made

One of my all-time favorite Dixieland groups was Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen. A list of their successes in the early 1960s would include the following- Midnight in Moscow, The Green Leaves of Summer, Sukiyaki, Hello Dolly and When I’m Sixty- Four. But the most impressive recording in my opinion, was a lengthy (6 minutes 28 seconds) number entitled High Society. To an average listener, the extended Clarinet solo which lasts through seven full choruses might seem excessive but to a fellow musician it has the effect of sheer amazement. The traditional Clarinet solo was recorded by Alphonse Picou and…