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Musician

Stan Tracey

Born:

Stan Tracey is an outstanding figure in the jazz world. His distinguished career has spanned five decades of flourishing creativity. He has been a highly influential and stimulating musical voice, not only to his peers but to each successive generation of musicians with whom he has worked.

Stan’s capricious piano playing combines the percussive melody of Thelonious Monk with the robust lyricism of Ellington in a highly idiosyncratic style. A master of harmony, he possesses a potent and compelling improviser’s intellect. Through Stan Tracey’s unflinching commitment and dedication has emerged a very rare artist who has sustained an output of highly exceptional music throughout his career.

A self-taught musician, Stan played his first professional engagement aged sixteen. The unlikely start of such a prestigious career saw him working for the forces entertainment network ENSA. However he quickly became involved in the lively emerging London jazz scene of the 1950s, playing in the bands of Laurie Morgan, Kenny Baker, Ronnie Scott and Tony Crombie.

From 1957-9 he played piano and vibraphone and arranged for the Ted Heath Orchestra. As house pianist at Ronnie Scott’s club from 1961 to 1967 Stan played with many of the most important figures in jazz history including Ben Webster, Roland Kirk, Wes Montgomery, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Sonny Rollins. His stature at that time is illustrated by his collaboration with Sonny Rollins which produced some of the most creative music of both musicians’ careers.

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Article: Album Review

Bobby Wellins Quartet: What Was Happening

Read "What Was Happening" reviewed by Chris May


In 1965 tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins made an indelible mark on jazz history with his contribution to pianist Stan Tracey's Jazz Suite Inspired By Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood (Columbia). The exquisite “Starless And Bible Black" is the most frequently cited track (check the YouTube below) and is indicative of the album's overall beauty. For a ...

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Article: Club Profile

606 Club In London

Read "606 Club In London" reviewed by Sammy Stein


The 606 Club in Chelsea has long been a Mecca for jazz fans who enjoy tasty food and great music. Entered by descending steep steps from the busy, bustling streets in one of London's busiest areas, 606 feels like a secret world where cozy tables, attentive staff, and superb music can be found in abundance. Owner ...

Album

Jazz Suite Inspired By Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood

Label: Re-Steamed
Released: 2023
Track listing: Cockle Row; Starless And Bible Black; I Lost My Sleep In Nantucket; No Good Boyo; Pen Pals; Llareggub; Under Milk Wood; A.M. Mayhem.

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Article: Album Review

Doncaster Jazz Alumni: 50 Years

Read "50 Years" reviewed by Neil Duggan


The problem for John Ellis UK as a teacher of brass instruments in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was that there were few resources or equipment available for him to teach his students the skills they needed and take them to the level that would enable them to have a career in music. He wanted to ...

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Article: Album Review

Stan Tracey Quartet: Jazz Suite Inspired By Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood

Read "Jazz Suite Inspired By Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood" reviewed by Chris May


Pianist and composer Stan Tracey's Under Milk Wood, released in 1966, was among the first albums to prove that British jazz could, on a good day, stand as tall as its American parent. Over a decade would pass, however, before that fact was widely accepted by jazz lovers in either America or Britain. Indeed, it is ...

Album

The 1959 Sessions

Label: Resteamed
Released: 2022
Track listing: Sometimes I'm Happy; Just You Just Me; Moonlight In Vermont; Jumpin' With Symphony Sid; Mood 13; Little Girl Sadly; Street Of Themes; Pittar Patter Panic.

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Article: Book Excerpts

Ivor Cutler: A Life Outside The Sitting Room

Read "Ivor Cutler: A Life Outside The Sitting Room" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


The following is an excerpt from Chapter 6 (A Life of Whimsical Fantasies) and 9 (A Life on the Page), from Ivor Cutler: A Life Outside The Sitting Room (Equinox Publishing, 2022). Chapter 6: A Life of Whimsical Fantasies Ivor's love of jazz, formed during his teens and early-20s, remained strong and he visited ...

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Article: Album Review

Howard Riley / Keith Tippett: Journal Four

Read "Journal Four" reviewed by John Sharpe


British pianists Howard Riley and Keith Tippett were seasoned proponents of the never widespread format of the piano duet, both together and apart. Riley's partners also included Jaki Byard as well as overdubbed sessions with himself, while Tippett's discography contains entries with Stan Tracey, Daryl Runswick and Matthew Bourne (though the last took place subsequent to ...

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Article: Album Review

Henry Lowther's Quarternity: Never Never Land

Read "Never Never Land" reviewed by Chris May


The British trumpeter and composer Henry Lowther, who first made an impact in the 1960s and released the well received album Can't Believe, Won't Believe (Village Life) in 2018, came to jazz via a circuitous route. After playing cornet in a provincial Salvation Army band, he moved to London around 1960 to study violin at the ...


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