Stan Tracey

Biography

b. Stanley William Tracey, 30 Dec 1926, London, Britain, d. 6 Dec 2013. Tracey trained himself to try out piano and by his early teenagers was performing appropriately. Within the 50s he was deeply mixed up in British contemporary jazz scene, dealing with music artists including Kenny Baker, Tony Crombie and Ronnie Scott. For some from the 60s he was citizen pianist at Scott’s golf club, backing numerous going to jazzmen including Zoot Sims and Sonny Stitt. In the center of the 10 years he formed a normal band, including in its employees at once or another Bobby Wellins, Peter Ruler and for quite some time Artwork Themen. Tracey produced numerous albums, most of them by himself label, Steam Information, run by using his wife Jackie. A few of his recordings are having a quartet, others possess him in duo, using the sextet Hexad, as innovator of the octet, along with a robust big music group. Tracey’s collaborators on concert and record classes included Don Weller, Keith Tippett, Tony Coe, John Surman and Mike Osborne, whose 1971 encounter with Tracey helped revive the pianist’s flagging trust in music like a profession. Later on Tracey’s regular quartet included his child, drummer Clark Tracey, Themen and bass participant Roy Babbington. He also trained for quite some time, including periods in the Guildhall College of Music. A respected jazz composer, Tracey’s main recordings consist of Under Milk Solid wood, a suite influenced by Dylan Thomas’ play for voices. The initial documenting from 1965 (with Wellins, Jeff Clyne and Jackie Douglas) is usually a magnificent function. He was also an achieved arranger and used this skill to great impact, notably when acknowledging his admiration for Duke Ellington on We Like You Madly (1968) and We Still Like You Madly (1989). As a new player, his early function showed the impact of Thelonious Monk (such as for example ‘Li’l Ol’ Pottsville’) but over time he consistently shown a distinctive, occasionally quirkily personal, contact. Among the exceptional figures the united kingdom has directed at the globe of jazz, Stan Tracey passed away on 6 Dec 2013 at age 86.

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