This is the third album by the Stan Tracey Trio for Trio Records that
gives a remarkable chronicle to an outstanding jazz pianist and the evolution
of an increasingly telepathic trio. Again, this is a live recording being
Stan Tracey's personal preference when recording rather than 'creating' something
in the sterile environment of a studio setting. The set is totally unrehearsed,
the only brief being to steer clear of the material that had already
been recorded with only a couple of bass charts to anchor some surprise
corners of Stan Tracey's
harmony.
The fact that Stan Tracey is in his 79th year bears little relevance here. His
playing is as fresh and inventive as at any time in his career. In the
last five years Stan Tracey has concentrated a lot more on his trio work rather
than take a quartet or larger band on the road which has given the
opportunity for the trio to grow into a seamless and mature unit and
explore fully the opportunities a trio setting provides that can only
happen over an extended period of time.
The set covers a typical cross section of material performed by the Stan Tracey Trio,
a composition from Duke, a couple from Monk and a selection of standards
including a different take on the Juan Tizol tune Perdido. Stan contributes
his own See Meenah Latino that is a simple
template on which basically hangs a free-ish improvisation.
Recorded live at Leighton Buzzard Theatre
There are two Thelonious Monk tunes (Pannonica and Little Rootie Tootie) on this cracking live trio set recorded in the UK last November, with the 79-year-old Stan Tracey showing his appreciation of Monk's harmonic innovations and rhythmic double-takes, while displaying a lugubrious playfulness and lyrical tenderness of his own. Tracey's jangly unaccompanied intro to Perdido, his off-handedly compassionate delivery of For All We Know (with Andy Cleyndert's warm bass sound enfolding him), and the peremptory firebell sound of Little Rootie Tootie's chords against Clark Tracey's close-marking cymbals drive home the case for the pianist's late-period work representing some of his most freewheeling playing. Tracey plays a tom-tom intro initially reminiscent of Max Roach's for Sonny Rollins's St Thomas before arriving in stealthy doodles on See Meenah Latino (the only original). Willow Weep for Me keeps trying to avoid its theme, and Duke Ellington's swinger Great Times is a classic Stan Tracey uptempo vehicle. One of the great British jazz stories rumbles triumphantly on.
*****John Fordham
The Guardian
Dave Gelly THE OBSERVER
John Fordham JAZZ UK
