Stan Tracey Octet
Stan Tracey Octet
Posted: 30 Mar 2010
The Stan Tracey Octet, Gateshead Jazz Festival
Picture by William Ellis
The Sage Gateshead
March 26 2010
The godfather of British jazz, a sprightly 83-year-old Stan Tracey CBE, was a highlight of the opening day of the Gateshead International Jazz Festival. Playing with an octet that included his son Clark Tracey on drums and the wonderfully named Mornington Lockett on tenor sax, he treated a sold-out audience to two hours on the edge of modern playing.
Stan Tracey never did go in for commercialism, always being true to his improviser’s instinct and, having outlined his Ellington-based influences in a pre-show talk, proceeded to use the evening to launch his latest CD ‘The Later Works.’ In six decades on the jazz scene, Tracey has released over 40 albums.
Opening with ‘Sweet Lips’, the evening took on an other worldly feel with ‘Lunar Lanterns’ and ‘Mooncake’ before an oriental twist with ‘Dragon Bats’ and ‘Crackers and Bangers’ completed the opening set.
Observing a sold-out audience of jazz aficionados is an education in itself. This wasn’t a gig for the unconverted, but a loyal following who ‘got it’. Many were entranced as Tracey, expertly backed by a retinue of talented players, floated through a second set where ‘Cottons and Bobbins’, ‘Umberto’s Dream’ and ‘Building Bridges’ were undoubted highlights.
Spread over three days, the Gateshead Jazz Festival deserves its place among the North East’s annual cultural highlights, the Sage featuring an extensive range of gigs, talks and workshops with even a special festival ale to spur you on. It was the weekend the clocks went forward – Stan Tracey has been taking jazz forward for a lifetime.
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