Jay Raymond Harrison was the first child of Jack and Marcia Harrison. The name Jay was inspired by the Alan Jay Lerner of the composition team Lerner and Loewe and Raymond after his Dad’s brother Ramon.
Jay’s early years weren’t without a spot of health problems, having been diagnosed with polio at 9 months old. As a result, he was no Polly Farmer, but Mum and Dad noticed that Jay could sing complicated popular songs in tune and in time at an early age.
Jay and brother Kim learnt piano from their grandfather William Edward Harrison.
Marcia dressed Jay as William Tell for the City Beach Primary School Fancy Dress Ball – little did she know how many times he would play the massive cor anglais solo from the Overture with the same name!
Jay learnt clarinet from his father Jack Harrison and from the age of 12 aspired to be an orchestral musician. By the age of 17 Jay had passed his AmusA on clarinet.
At the age of 14, Jay won, as the clarinettist in a Dixieland jazz band called “The Five Saints”, the TV competition Stars of the Future – and travelled to perform in Melbourne as part of the prize.
In 1973 Jay went to W.A. Secondary Teachers College already accomplished on piano and clarinet and with a lovely tenor voice. He started learning the oboe as a second instrument with the then Principal Oboe of WASO, Peter Randall, who was quite a character. Jay would turn up to his house of a Saturday morning and he would be in shorts and singlet. He would invariably be cooking up his famous chilli chutney and the smell would waft through the place.
After some lessons with David Theodore in London and only a short time as a full time instrumental teacher of the Clarinet, Oboe and Saxophone with the W.A. Education Department Jay was Principal Oboe in the W.A. Arts Orchestra and also doing casual playing in WASO when they needed an extra player. Jay was playing second oboe to Robin Powell for a short time and then enjoyed a few visiting Principals such as Neil Stafford and Vicki Phillipson.
A young pom called Laurence Frankel – or as WASO knew him, Flossie – was appointed in 1980. His mass of curly hair was as disruptive as his sense of humour and I think a great time was had in the section as a result! Playing casual oboe in WASO gave sister Jody a glimpse into a different side to Jay. Going from the youth orchestra mentality of “face the front and pay attention”, she was astounded to hear the rude mutterings of the wind section (most notably their father Jack Harrison on Principal Clarinet) and also bassoonist, David Adams, making farm animal noises whenever he or Jay missed a note.
Jay’s father Jack Harrison was in WASO for 43 years. He was sometimes rather rude to conductors, which in his early days, Jay wasn’t always happy about. As the years progressed, Jay was capable of a cheeky retort to a conductor when deemed necessary. On one occasion Jay was asked several times by a conductor to play a passage louder and in the end Jay said “That’s all you’re going to get out of me!”
A new Principal oboe was appointed from America in 1982 – Joel Marangella.
When WASO expanded in 1989, another oboe position was created which was won by the beautiful, Leanne Glover. The orchestra’s woodwind sections then expanded to four players and Renae Stavely joined the section. Luxury for a few years – Jay finally felt like a Principal Cor Anglais.
A significant event Jody shared with Jay at this time was watching the colour of his face change when he was told on the phone by the police that his house was on fire and driving him to the poor blackened house to witness the devastation. There was a melted mound of vinyl and cardboard that used to be his records. Leanne Glover remembered the hideous smoky smell of his tails as she had to sit next to him that night at a performance.
Jay participated in Mostly Baroque concerts, Camp Quaranups, Madrigal singing nights and parties and could contribute on oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, saxophones, piano, recorders or voice with unassuming ease and play anything from Berio to Glenn Miller either reading music or improvising.
The most significant moment Jay shared with his family was in 2003 at his sister in law’s 40th dress up party birthday party, when he chose to introduce the love of his life to his brothers and sisters and friends when they were all dressed in outrageous Gilligan Island outfits.
Amazingly enough, Katherine wasn’t put off by this and much to the family’s delight married Jay in 2004, 5 months before the unexpected death of his mother, Marcia.
In 2010, Jay retired from WASO after 32 years service and after 55 years exposure to WASO. It was the end of an era – the first time in 59 years there wasn’t a Harrison in the WASO.
Jay said “my time in the Orchestra has been very rewarding and I don’t think I would have been as motivated or interested in any other career. I am a bit sad, I guess, but having done this for 32 years, I don’t think it is the job and the performing that I will miss but the comradeship that has built up over the years.”