This quintet is one of the liveliest and most creative groups of young musicians that Clark Tracey has led. The album nonetheless puts the drums in the forefront, opening with a forceful account of Tony Williams' ‘Lawra’, introduced by Clark's toms and snare, and later including Clark's own tribute to another great percussionist in his composition ‘Elvin's Hug’. The onomatopoeic ‘Rim Clicker’ – another Clark composition – is self-explanatory. The personnel includes several alumni of Birmingham Conservatoire, where Clark has taught for some time, and the result is a shared sense of purpose, but also conveying the feeling that these are musicians with a point to prove. Saxophonist Maddock has, as Jazzwise readers will know, won a Yamaha Jazz Scholarship, not to mention the Mike Gibbs/BBC Big Band award for composition and arranging. He extends his solo skills here on Clark's ‘A Pint of Bitter’, a gentle bluesy rambling number. On piano, Harry Bolt, back from leading the band on the Queen Mary 2, also makes his mark, notably on Cedar Walton's composition ‘Ojos de Rojo’, where he nods in the composer's direction but remains his own man. Daniel Casimir's basslines lock on to the drums, and add to the tight feel of the rhythm section. The outstanding soloist however is Henry Armburg Jennings, who is as at home on a poised flugelhorn ballad as he is playing more fiery trumpet excursions. His playing on ‘What's New’ is the highlight of a very accomplished disc. The record has brought off that rare double – enticing a new listener to want to hear the band live, and providing a perfect memento of how it sounds to those who have experienced it in concert.

Jazzwise spoke to Clark about the album Why the title Meantime…?

It's to make the point that this is the music that's been going on in my life while the spotlight – especially since Stan's death – has been on different things. While people's attention has been drawn elsewhere, I've been playing serious music.

How did this present quintet come about?

The catalyst was Reuben James, the pianist whom I first heard with the late Abram Wilson. I really liked his playing and formed the new band around him – but now he's getting so much work that it excludes him from playing regularly with me. There just wasn't time to develop new material together, or to guarantee that he'd be around to play it. Fortunately Harry arrived at just the right moment. I first heard him a few years ago, but when I heard him again his playing just knocked me out, so he joined us.

There are several of your compositions on the album – were they written specially?

Stan never wrote anything unless he was asked, and I'm a bit the same. But a while back I wrote a book called Exploring Jazz Drums, for which I wrote 20 original pieces. I tried some of them with the band, and the guys played them beautifully, so they're on the record. I encourage everyone in the band to compose, so I'm hoping that as time goes on we'll be playing as much of their original writing as mine!