8.30 - 11.00pm
£8 on the door
The Clark Tracey Quintet
- Clark Tracey (drums)
- Mark Armstrong (trumpet)
- Chris Maddock (saxes)
- Harry Bolt (piano)
- Daniel Casimir (bass)
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 Terry'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 bass lines 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 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." - Peter Vacher, Jazzwise Magazine