Marvin Ash was a remarkable and under-recorded New Orleans style pianist who actually spent much of his life wanting to visit the Crescent City, making him all that much more remarkable for his playing gifts. Born in Lamar, Colorado, one of two children to barber LeRoy Jene "Roy" Ashbaugh and his wife Nora Tuttle, Marvin grew up in Junction City, Kansas. He had a younger sister, Willie Kathryn, who was born there on November 8, 1918. The family was shown in the 1920 enumeration living in Junction City.

By 1925, the Ashbaugh family had moved to Emporia, Kansas, where they appeared in the 1925 Kansas census. The following year they were living directly between Topeka and Kansas City in Lawrence, Kansas, where Marvin's graduation from Quincy Elementary School was announced in the paper on June 3, 1926. The 1930 census, taken in Emporia, showed Roy still working as a barber. The greater Topeka area was where Marvin started playing with a number of bands as early as his high school years. Among the known musicians he worked with from Kansas City, the town that made the career of the legendary Count Basie, include Wallie Stoeffer, composer Con Conrad, Herman Waldman and Jack Crawford. He was greatly inspired while visiting Abilene one day in 1931 and heard "Fatha" Earl Hines perform in his capacious style. There was also an encounter one day at Jenkin's Music when seated at one of three grand pianos was Joe Sullivan teaching Thomas "Fats" Waller and Arthur Schutt, sitting at the other two, his own Little Rock Getaway. It set a desire in Ash to be able to play like all three of them - at once.

When Marvin was 22 he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to expand his musical horizons and do some work in radio as a studio pianist, musical director and sometimes announcer of station KVOO. With so much exposure to recordings from all around the country he was able to further hone his skills while absorbing a variety of piano styles. Among his favorites influences were James P. Johnson and Waller, masters of stride, boogie man Pete Johnson, for whom he played the relief shift at the Sunset Cafe in Kansas City, jazz players Hines, Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and long-time friend and traveling roommate Bob Zurke. On November 29, 1934, he was married to Frances Holcombe in Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, their union was brief, as indicated by the 1940 enumeration taken in Tulsa, where Marvin was shown as divorced. He and his older roommate, Joseph O'Neil, also divorced, were both listed as radio musicians. On November 20, 1941, Marvin married Wavel Davis, a Creek/Cherokee American Indian-descendant of one of Tulsa's pioneer families. This may have been a second marriage since his enlistment card status indicates he had been divorced.

After a few years in Tulsa, Ash enlisted in the Army for World War II service on January 16, 1942, assigned initially to Fort Sill in Oklahoma. The terms indicated an enlistment "for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law." His civil occupation was listed as "Blacksmith or Band or Orchestra Leader... or Musician." It is hard to determine for certain, but Marvin likely spent at least some of his Army service in entertainment, something that head General Dwight D. Eisenhower in particular felt was essential for morale on the front lines. The army was true to their word and indeed kept him nearly six months after the end of the European segment of the war.

Following his four year stint (Marvin claims it was five in one source) Ash was let loose in Los Angeles and quickly found a place with the band of trumpeter Wingy Manone, resulting in some of his earliest ensemble recordings in late 1945. He also played in many of the clubs around the greater Los Angeles area, slowly growing his fine reputation. In 1947, jazz guitarist/banjoist Nappy Lamare and associates opened Club 47 (named for Musician's Union #47, not the year) on famed Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, an active music strip in the burgeoning San Fernando Valley. Ash was a regular there for the five years. Lamare ran the club, and it led to his initial sessions with Clive Acker's Jump Records as a soloist in late 1947 and with Rosy McHargue's Memphis Five. With a national musician's strike against the record companies looming in 1948, recording studios were very crowded in November and December of 1947 trying to get in last minute sessions, and Marvin was kept busy during that two month period. His work with McHargue also resulted in sessions with Lamare, drummer Ray Bauduc and others at Capitol Records (both companies used Radio Recorders, the best Hollywood studio at that time), recording as Nappy Lamare's Levee Loungers and Marvin Ash and his Mason Dixon Music. He also kept regular broadcast performance stints on radio at KRKD, as well as the aptly named Hangover Club on Vine Street in Hollywood where his late friend Zurke had held court from August, 1942, to his death in February, 1944, at age 32.

Ash's accurate no-nonsense jazz playing and his propensity for ragtime caught the ear of Capitol's producer and A&R man Lou Busch (who would later gain fame as Joe "Fingers" Carr), and he invited Ash to record a few more sides in 1949 with a small ensemble. Most of these would be incorporated into the groundbreaking 10" and later 12" Honky Tonk Piano LPs. His jazz interpretations of Maple Leaf Rag, Cannon Ball and Fidgety Feet were a nice contrast to Busch's arranged honky-tonk style and colleague Ray Turner's brilliant novelty recordings. Still, there would be no further work with Capitol.

Marvin was in the right place when television really took hold in Hollywood. He was one of the earliest traditional jazz pianists to perform live on the air in Los Angeles in 1949, first heard several times on KFI-TV (later KHJ) on various shows, often with actor Harry Hickox in an interview and performance format. Lamare often joined them for some musical fun. In 1950 he was featured for a while on a talent program, Stars of Tomorrow, which aired on KTTV Channel 11. The Marvin Ash Trio was featured on the show for several weeks. There were many more live television and radio appearances throughout the early 1950s. One of his more enjoyable pursuits from 1949 to the early 1950s was traveling to the San Fernando Valley and entertaining veterans at Birmingham Hospital in Van Nuys. Ash would push his piano from ward to ward to entertain disable veterans, building up a strong fan base for his efforts. He was often called on to entertain at Veterans' Reunions. The 1950 census showed Marvin as a musician, as expected, and Wavel as a secretary for the Musician's Union, a show of unity and commitment.

Ash spent much of the 1950s playing in various lounges in the Los Angeles area, but had few recording dates under his name, instead working on many undocumented studio dates. Some include recording or live sessions with trombonist Jack Teagarden, clarinet player Matty Matlock, New Orleans' sax player Pud Brown and cornetist Pete Daily, a favorite of Dragnet creator Jack Webb. Marvin's most significant sessions resulted in a continuous suite of an album for Decca titled New Orleans at Midnight, a virtual pastiche of elegant jazz and even a Scott Joplin rag. In 1956 he was part of an all-star mega-band at the annual Dixieland Jubilee at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, a group that sometimes-Firehouse Five Plus Two member George Bruns, FH5+2 and Kid Ory Band clarinetist George Probert, FH5+2 trumpeter Don Kinch, bassist Jess Bourgeois, Red Roundtree on banjo and veteran traditional jazz drummer Monte Mountjoy. They received the largest ovation of the event for Probert's emotional performance of Canal Street Blues.

The incurable entertainer also found some steady employment in the Walt Disney Studios music department playing for movie and television soundtracks, acting as the resident arranger and pianist for the Mickey Mouse Club Show, and performing with Bruns and his aptly-named Wonderland Jazz Band. Marvin's musical direction during this period was later described by Clive Acker, who noted that he had little patience for playing rags as written, and even taking liberties with the more complex works by composers such as Bix Beiderbecke, even though he could play note for note. "Even when humdrumming his way through the days at the [Disney] studios, he would seek a place, any place, where he could ply his first love, being a jazz pianist." Acker also cynically noted that Los Angeles was a town that had been hard on jazz pianists, such as Bob Zurke, Joe Sullivan and Jess Stacy, but that Ash was still a survivor in spite of the overall attitude of Angelenos.

Marvin was often sighted with this group or with his own small ensemble playing for events at Disneyland as well. He was a fixture at Jim's Roaring 20s restaurant and bar in the early 1960s with the band of Johnnie Lane. His regular haunt as a soloist during the late 1950s and early 1960s was Nick Arden's Restaurant at the piano bar. In 1962 he migrated to the Brass Tiger Lounge at The Inn in Studio City on Ventura Blvd. Another favorite spot where Marvin and his buddies would drop in was Wit's End, also in Studio City near Laurel Canyon Blvd. Among those he played with at Wit's End included "Wild Bill" Davidson, Sonny Criss, Matty Matlock, Benny Carter and Barney Bigard, all storied names in jazz music.

After his retirement from Disney in the mid-1960s, Ash spent some his last few years playing older jazz, stride and (sometimes allegedly grudgingly) ragtime in the cocktail lounge of Victory Bowl, a large San Fernando area bowling alley. He had a steady stream of regular customers and admirers, and was reportedly very happy with the situation. Another frequent haunt was The Pump Room in Studio City. He was still called on for special gigs and appearances up through his death, including festivals held by the Blue Angels Jazz Club for their 1969 and 1971 events. As late as October 1973 Ash was frequently noted in the Los Angeles Times Calendar section playing at south valley locations such as the Tail of the Cock in North Hollywood. He passed on in an Encino, California hospital in August 1974 at age 59, largely as a result of overindulgence in alcohol combined with a heart problem caused by Rheumatic Fever as a child, the reported cause being a heart attack. Marvin was survived by Wavel, his wife of 33 years, his sister (now Billie Katherine Freegard), and his mother Nora. According to her niece Wavel celebrated her 100th birthday in 2010.

Marvin left many jazz and ragtime fans wanting for more in terms of recorded legacy, but also sadly forgotten by all but a few hard-core fans. The author, who lived in Studio City as a teen, was fortunate enough to hear Ash perform on two occasions, and still vividly remembers how captivating and engrossing his performance was in the noisy restaurant bar. Marvin's ability to merge styles, and also to approach the same piece in many different ways made him versatile and listenable, and his "always-on" smiling demeanor made him a popular friend to all who crossed paths with him. His approach to ragtime was successful in showing that piano rags were the root of jazz, and therefore could fuse well into the genre, creating a fresh look at older material while still respecting that material.