Stan Tracey - The Close And Holy Darkness

This time, the great pianist interprets the much loved A Child’s Christmas In Wales in a new suite. Tracey talks to Duncan Heining

It was 46 years ago that pianistcomposer Stan Tracey released a record that changed British jazz history. It was called Jazz Suite Inspired By Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood. There’d been intimations before in the work of musicians such as Joe Harriott, Tubby Hayes and John Dankworth that homegrown jazz could stand on its own two feet but here was a declaration of independence. In less than two decades British modern jazz had come of age.

With his first new suite in a decade, Stan Tracey returns to the Welsh bard and has put pen to paper to produce the beautifully evocative, A Child’s Christmas In Wales. Featuring his regular quartet of son Clark on drums, bassist Andy Cleyndert and young saxophonist Simon Allen, the album comes hot on the heels of the rightly praised Soundcheck from earlier this year and Later Works from 2010. “Grand old man of British jazz”? Tracey is playing as well as ever and these three releases are jewels in a career that goes back to the 1940s and 50s.

But what prompted him to revisit Thomas’ work. “It was Clark’s idea,” he says. “Every album we make is Clark’s idea. I never have any ideas about what to record – I wait for somebody to suggest something. We were both familiar with the story. Over the years, it was a favourite of both Clark’s and myself, and he hit on the idea we should do a recording with his son Ben doing the reading. We just took it from there.”