Stan Tracey born 30 December 1926

Stanley William Tracey CBE (30 December 1926 – 6 December 2013) was a British jazz pianist and composer, whose most important influences were Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Known as 'the Godfather of British Jazz'  he was Britain’s finest and most original jazz composer; he was also a pianist of rare
distinction, whose work drew praise from some of the greatest jazz musicians — the saxophonist Sonny Rollins once demanding: “Does anyone here realise just how good he is?”

Stanley William Tracey was born in south London on December 30 1926, the son of a nightclub bartender. His formal education ended at the age of 12, because he refused to be evacuated along with the rest of his schoolfellows. The family possessed no radio or gramophone, but the boy would spend hours sitting on the communal stairs, listening to the music on the wireless belonging to the neighbours upstairs.

The RAF Gang Show (Stan 2nd from left)

He acquired a piano-accordion, taught himself to play and won several talent competitions. At 16 he joined an Ensa concert party, and remained with it until he was conscripted into the RAF. There he became a member of the RAF Gang Show, alongside Peter Sellers and Tony Hancock. He also taught himself to play the piano, and his first civilian job was as accompanist to Bob Monkhouse — Tracey appears briefly as a nightclub pianist in the 1954 film I Am a Camera.

By now Tracey had become captivated by jazz. In order to hear the best players in person, he worked in dance bands aboard the transatlantic liners Queen Mary and Caronia, and in New York he heard both Monk and Ellington for the first time.

It was virtually impossible to make a living from modern jazz in Britain during the 1950's, and Tracey joined the dance bands first of Roy Fox, and later of Ted Heath. Although Ted Heath and his Music was Britain’s top big band, Tracey found its repertoire dull, and to enliven the proceedings he would insert the odd “Monkish” dissonance into the piano part. “Ted never noticed,” he later recalled. “Fortunately, he was a bit deaf.” While with Heath, Tracey also took up the vibraphone, on which he played the occasional feature number.

         Here’s “Dream Of Many Colours” from above album.

                              

Leaving Heath in 1959, Tracey formed a sextet, the MJ6 with the drummer Tony Crombie, and recorded an album of his own. Entitled Little Klunk, the record consisted of eight original compositions played by Tracey, the bassist Kenny Napper and the drummer Phil Seamen. Later the same year Ronnie Scott opened 
his jazz club in Soho, and Tracey became its house pianist. During the seven years in which he held the post he accompanied an extraordinary parade of the biggest names in jazz — including Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollins and Roland Kirk. Far from being intimidated by these great figures, Tracey would challenge them with unusual harmonies and unexpected interjections. Some of them, like Rollins, loved it; others did not. But Tracey, loyally supported by Scott, always stood his ground.

Stan with Cleo Laine (1961)

It was during his tenure at Scott’s that Tracey wrote what is still his best-known composition, Under Milk Wood, an eight-part suite based on Dylan Thomas’s radio play. He wrote much of it while travelling home from Scott’s on the night bus to Streatham. The piece was recorded in 1965, and immediately hailed as a landmark in British jazz. Much of its success is due to the empathy between Tracey and the tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins, whose hauntingly beautiful tone adds a tinge of melancholy to even the most energetic passages.

Jackie and Stan Tracey

Exhausted by the long hours and non-stop challenge of his work at Ronnie Scott’s, Tracey left the club in 1967. Unfortunately, this coincided with a somewhat bleak period in British jazz, with much of its traditional audience deserting in favour of “progressive rock”. With work growing increasingly sparse, he even toyed with the idea of becoming a postman, but with the aid of his formidably energetic wife, Jackie, he managed to get by on a mixture of grants, teaching and self-promoted events until the tide turned. 

In 1973 a reinvigorated Tracey celebrated 30 years in music with a sold-out concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and the following year he formed a quartet with the saxophonist Art Themen; a partnership that was to last for 22 years.

He also founded his own record label, Steam Records, and embarked on an energetic programme of work, recording and performing in every possible context, from solo piano to full 17-piece jazz orchestra.

In 1986 Tracey was appointed OBE in recognition of his services to British jazz — although he used to joke that it was actually for 40 years spent “battling bad pianos”. He was advanced to CBE in 2008. By his own reckoning, his playing career had taken him to 39 countries.

Tracey died of cancer on 6 December 2013. (Edited from The Telegraph & Wikipedia)

Here’s The Stan Tracey Quartet, More Live at the 100 Club playing “Metro Allegretto” Stan Tracey (piano), Art Themen (soprano sax), Roy Babbington (bass), Clarke Tracey (drums)  Date of recording unknown.