Biography
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Founded In
London, England, United Kingdom
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Members
- Andrew Cleyndert
- Art Themen
- Bobby Wellins
- Clark Tracey
- Dave Green
Stan Tracey (30 December 1926 – 6 December 2013) was a British jazz pianist and composer, whose most important influences were Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Tracey's best known recording is the 1965 album Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas' "Under Milk Wood", which is based on the BBC radio drama Under Milk Wood, by Dylan Thomas. It has often been cited as one of the most celebrated jazz recordings made in the United Kingdom.
In a review of the album for BBC Music Magazine, Chris Parker wrote: "Tracey’s startlingly percussive, eccentric piano style and his close rapport with tenorman Bobby Wellins do bring Thelonious Monk and Charlie Rouse to mind, but the cogent pungency of the compositions (in catchy mid-tempo tunes or in haunting ballads like ‘Starless and Bible Black’ and the title-track) is all his own".
In a series of articles for The Guardian newspaper titled "50 great moments in jazz", John Fordham wrote of the album: "Under Milk Wood was an evocative collection of sparky themes inspired by the Dylan Thomas radio play (it's sometimes performed with a narrator reading the parts). And thanks to Tracey's sparing piano and Wellins's softly hooting sax, the rippling tone-poem Starless and Bible Black is widely acclaimed as one of the great jazz performances".
Since the original 1965 mono LP on Columbia, the album has been released on a number of labels, including Blue Note Records. The album was reissued in 2010 on his son, Clark Tracey's ReSteamed Records label, as "Under Milk Wood: Jazz Suite". A live version was recorded in 1976 on RCA records, which included a voice narration from the Welsh actor, Donald Houston.
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