On 22 and 23 May, 1959, the Stan Tracey Trio – Tracey, Napper and Seaman – recorded Little Klunk for Decca. Within three weeks they were back in Decca’s studio to record a further eight tracks for a proposed follow-up album. Four tracks, all Tracey originals,were with the Little Klunk line-up, four were from a different session that produced three standards and a 12-bar blues, with Crombie in place of Seaman. The album never saw the light of day until its release as The 1959 Sessions – albeit without the Little Klunk tracks, also from 1959.

Visiting anything other than a positive judgement onmaestro Tracey’s work today is akin to standing up and calling the vicar a liar mid-sermon, but comparing the Little Klunk tracks – all originals by Tracey – with the previously unreleased tracks reveals an animation and energy that seem to be absent on the latter. We do not know if it was Tracey or Decca, or both, that decided against their release, which will be valued by Tracey completists from a time when he was a member of the Ted Heath Orchestra.

Nevertheless, there are highlights to be savoured, and they tend to be with Seaman on drums: ‘Mood 13,’ ‘Street of Themes’ and ‘Little Girl Sadly,’ which largely succeed in recapturing the confident mood of Little Klunk.